Once Upon Another Time
by H. K. Rissing
Summary: AU, AH. The story of the Volturi before they were the Volturi, in modern day high school. Dealing with stupid teachers, dumb projects, enmity, jealousy, nerds, punks, romance, and too many clubs to name is all in a day's work.
1. Chapter 1

The blaring alarm clock jolted Caius into wakefulness, the way it did every morning. Caius let out a harsh and angry sigh, then peeled open his eyes. He reached out and smashed the alarm clock roughly, as usual. As he moved his arm, he realized that he had draped himself in a stiffening and highly uncomfortable way over the small, low-slung bedframe and lumpy mattress that he outgrew when he was ten. Seven years later, his limbs dangled onto the floor out of the tangle of blankets that he had somehow managed to enmesh himself in over the course of his three hours of sleep. He staggered through his room, no bigger than a large closet, looking blearily around at his scattered and strewn possessions. Everything in his cramped and cluttered room was black, as were the clothes he pulled on.

He crammed his feet into a pair of black boots, slung his black messenger bag over his shoulder, paused at the pieces of a mirror he had glued to the black walls to reinsert his eyebrow ring and earrings, and then lurched down the hallway, feeling unreasonably tired. His mother shoved past him, just now coming in, smelling strongly of booze and smoke, looking moderately pawed over. "Watch where you're going, you little snot." She growled, as they bumped into each other in the tiny hallway. "Go sleep off your hangover and learn to act your age," he muttered.

Their grimy rattrap of an apartment certainly wasn't much, but it was his home. They'd held onto it through being behind on rent, the pipes leaking multiple times, small (and not so small) kitchen fires, threatening and angry boyfriends of hers, threatening and angry girlfriends of his, several attempted break-ins, gang fights and drug deals gone wrong. Upon looking at the clock that was set above the blackened-from-misuse oven as he stomped across the gummy linoleum floor, he realized he was going to be late for school yet again. He glared at the bright morning outside, poured some lukewarm coffee left over from the night previously into a red plastic cup he found inside the sink. It didn't seem to contain anything particularly suspicious or foul (despite his neighborhood, he had never done drugs or gotten deep into alcohol- he left all that to his mother) so he decided to chance it. He stormed over to the front door and banged out of it, letting the partially broken screen door rattle loudly into place behind him. He downed his bitter coffee in a few mouthfuls, tossed the red cup back through the open kitchen window as he crossed their weedy lawn and slipped into the alley between his house and the next. There he kept his most prized possession, under lock and key and dropcloth, surrounded by trashcans at all times. He wheeled his precious black Harley Davidson motorcycle out into the street lovingly, and roared off towards a marginally better neighborhood.

His best friend, Athenodora, lived two blocks away, and he'd been giving her a ride to school ever since he could drive. There wasn't a time in his life that he could remember when Athenodora had not been his safe haven and saving grace, comforting and calming ad keeping him from doing anything stupid, like blowing the school sky high or shooting someone, though he'd been sorely tempted to do both many times over the years. Which wasn't to say that she hadn't encouraged him to set fire to Dumpsters to let out his feelings on numerous occasions.

She was curled up waiting for him on the front steps of her house. Her parents could be heard arguing loudly within. But Caius already knew they would be. Caius knew Athenodora better than he knew himself, which, even though he knew Athenodora would threaten to put a pen through his eye for voicing such a mushy statement, was true. She had been staring broodingly at the overgrown sidewalk when she heard his bike rumble up in front of her house, and then looked up, a dazzling smile illuminating herself. She grabbed her black messenger bag (they had the same bag-they'd even gone to get them together, but she had covered hers with pins, buttons, and iron-on patches.) and strode over to him, knee-high boots clacking in the grit, black miniskirt and black sequins scarf flapping in the breeze. She clambered on behind him, winding her thin arms underneath his leather jacket and around his lean torso. He involuntarily flexed his ab muscles until he realized what he was doing. "Good morning, love-duck. And how are we today?" she asked in his ear. Caius smiled at the use of her rude nickname for him- she claimed that when she slept over at his house way back in the seventh grade, he had actually said the phrase "love-duck" in his sleep, and thus that had always been his nickname. He grunted and shrugged noncommittally, knowing that Athenodora knew that this meant his mother had been particularly crappy this morning, but that he didn't want to talk about it.

"I myself am not doing particularly well either. My parents started arguing, like always, and that was okay. But when they started going after you, I walked out. Which I will most likely be made to regret later, through some means of punishment or another." She laid her head down on his shoulder as he wove in and out of downtown traffic. Caius felt a flare of emotion. "If I'm causing you trouble-" he began when they were stopped for a red light. She pinched the miniscule layer of lipids that lay between his skin and the muscles on his stomach. "If you're causing me trouble you'll what? Stop seeing your best and only friend?" she questioned laughingly. "If you were my only friend, which you're not, by the way, by virtue of that fact, you'd also be my worst friend," he responded. He could feel her laughter vibrating in her chest. "Cai, it's way too early for my brain to follow such logic. Talk straight or else." Caius couldn't help but smile. "Or else what?" he questioned. "Or else I'll pull that silly little eyebrow ring right off your face and cut off all of your peroxide blond hair." They laughed- Athenodora knew as well as Caius did that he had been born with hair the precise shade of fallen snow.

They pulled into the school lot and into their parking spot, 67. Caius slid off and then helped her down, his hands lingering around the narrow slice of her midriff exposed by her camisole for the briefest second, and, not for the first time, a thought flashed through his mind- what would it be like to be Athenodora's boyfriend? He'd been considering that particular question since eighth grade, but he'd never asked her anything like that- if something as stupid as asking her out ruined their friendship of over a decade, he'd never forgive himself.

They held hands as they loped to the main entrance to the school. Caius smiled mockingly at all the good little boys and girls, scurrying to homeroom in their neat polos and boat shoes, who darted looks at them and quickly looked away. Athenodora adjusted his metal-studded collar, and he tugged on a lock of her cornsilk-blond hair that fell in tousled, pixie-short waves to just above her chin, without smiling- he never smiled at school, no matter what the provocation.

Caius was looking at Athenodora's profile as they walked, marveling at how mysterious it became when she applied all of her dark makeup, and thus didn't see the boy coming fast from his left side, who barreled right into him.

Aro bound his hair away from his face neatly as he contemplated his closet. He eventually decided on his burgundy sweater vest, white shirt, and black tie. After dressing, he glided to his sister's room. His little sister Didyme, a freshman while he was a senior, lay curled up under her puffy white comforter. Where Aro had plastered his room with periodic tables, maps, books, and posters with the greatest quotes of the millennium, Didyme's room was pink butterflies and lacy flowers, crystals hanging from the windows (though they were currently obscured by floral-patterned drapes that puddled on the floor) and purple dream catchers dangling from the flowing white canopy over her bed.

"Didyme!" He sang, shaking her shoulder gently. His sister peeked at him through one green eye. "Good morning, sunshine! It's time to get up!" he whispered happily. She sat up, stretched, and yawned. "Happy Monday morning, Aro!" she chirped perkily. Aro danced out of Didymes' room, going down the plushly carpeted stairs from the second floor of their loft apartment. Their parents were seated at the spotless glass table, already in their sleek charcoal gray and black pinstripe business suits, drinking coffee, and pouring over the paper and complex-looking spreadsheets respectively.

"Good morning, Aro," his father said, without looking up. "Good morning, Father . . . . Mother, " he said, putting an English muffin in the toaster for himself and getting a smoothie out of the refrigerator for Didyme. "So, Aro," said his mother, fixing him with a hawk-eyes stare from behind her wire-rimmed glasses. "How was that AP Calculus test yesterday?" Aro responded with a smile," I got a 105 on that, a 102 on an AP British Literature quiz, and a 25 out of 25 on an AP psychology assessment." His English muffin popped out of the toaster and he began to spread butter on it, still grinning widely. "Today I have a science club meeting after school, and then I have a debate club prelim, to see if I can qualify for Tri-State, which I have ever confidence that I can, an AP Chemistry test, and we're starting a new project in lit class."

Didyme sashayed down the stairs, brushing a kiss across each of her parents cheeks in turn, saying, "Morning, Mommy . . . Daddy. Oh!" she exclaimed as she turned around to face Aro. "Aro, we're tie-buddies!" Didyme was also wearing a black tie, but hers had pink rhinestones that matched the glittering butterfly pin that held back strands of her black hair that wouldn't go back into a thick braid that hung halfway down her back. The siblings laughed. Didyme scooped up a grapefruit and quartered it, sprinkling sugar on the portions she intended to eat. "Didyme, did you get any grades back yesterday?" questioned their father. "Oh, I got a 32 out of 30 on a biology test, a 100 on an economics quiz, and also got extra credit for doing a current event about the impact of movie theaters on communities. I turned in an essay in lit class about the lives of ancient Greek women. Today after school, I have a yearbook staff meeting, and then a cheer squad meeting. "

"We're very proud of you both," said their father, a little abstractly as he flipped a spreadsheet over to make a note on the back. "I have a dinner meeting with a potential client tonight," said their mother, "And I have a Board of Trustees meeting that begins at five and probably won't end until eight," overlapped their father, "So we won't be home for dinner with both of you, but you can order in whatever you want, or heat up leftovers," continued their mother. "Allright, we'll see you when you get in," chirped Didyme, having finished the grapefruit and begun daintily chugging the smoothie. Aro checked the clock- 6:30. They still had plenty of time to make it to school and have time for Aro to get to his academic bowl meeting and for Didyme to get to her science club convention.

As Didyme sang a lilting Italian aria her voice lessons teacher had taught her the year previous while picking out a coat to wear, Aro laid down food for their cats, Butter Buttons and Princess Peach. After their parents had sped away in their streamlined Lexuses, Aro and Didyme slid into Aros' glossy gray Camry and headed off to school. They both hummed along to the opening movement of Scheherazade by Korsakoff when it came on the radio as they careened through the darkened and almost deserted streets of their town. Didyme brushed at her makeup, studying her reflection in the mirror. Aro looked at her sideways. She was wearing her skinniest jeans and her laciest blouse, and was worrying at her tie, hair and makeup. Aro didn't need AP Psychology to tell him she was trying to look good. "Whom are you dressing up for?" he asked lightly. "Oh, just this guy," she responded airily. "Just _which_ guy?" Aro pressed, intrigued by his sisters' apparent crush. "Do I know him?" he continued. "Well, yes!" Didyme giggled. "You know that guy who's president of the student council?" Aro swiveled his head to look at his baby sister full on. "Didyme, Marcus is a senior and you are a freshman." Didyme pursed her glossy lips and frowned at her brother. "And? It's not like I'm going to marry him. It's not like I even expect to date him. But that doesn't mean I can't want him to notice me." Aro turned his attention back to the road as they, slightly haphazardly, made their way into the school parking lot. "That's fine, then,"

They wished each other a good day, and then headed their separate ways. Aro presided over the academic bowl meeting as usual; dispensing more topics to study and offering study help to the newest members. When they finished, Aro realized they were done five minutes early, and so got out his chemistry book to do some last minute studying before homeroom. Unfortunately, he lost track of time. The homeroom bell rang, and his head jerked up. He was lost for a minute, feeling irrational panic swelling up in his chest. His homeroom was on the other side of the campus and it took all ten minutes from the homeroom bell to the tardy bell to get to the classroom. He had never been tardy once before in his entire 11 and a half years of schooling to one class, and had no intention of starting now. He rushed out of the classroom and into the quad. He was concentrating solely on chemistry as he walked, and was utterly surprised when he collided with someone.

Marcus was awakened by his mother at 6:50. "Marcus, sweetie, up and at 'em!" Once she was satisfied that he was sufficiently awake, she turned to go back upstairs, calling, "And I made pancakes!" Marcus smiled at his emphatic mother's retreating back as he climbed somewhat reluctantly from the warm nest of pillows and blankets. He padded to his bathroom to shave and freshen up for the day. When he got back to his room, he paused. He had a strange feeling about the day, like it was a day he'd been waiting for for a long time, but he had forgotten what about it made it special. He smiled, now certain in the conviction that, even though it was a Monday, and he had a quiz in CP Trigonometry, and they were allegedly starting a project that day in lit, it was going to be a good day.

He paused once more as he was pulling out his standard uniform of jeans and a t-shirt- he had nearly forgotten that today after school was a student council meeting, and he, as president, needed to look a little nicer. SO he put back the old t-shirt and pulled out a new t-shirt, just plain white. His mother always told him that combined with his dark, shaggy hair, pale colors made him look older than his 17 years.

He smiled as he bounded up the stairs, recalling how he'd been unanimously nominated by all of his teachers and three-fourths of his grade to be their grade-level representative when they'd all been juniors. Because he'd been a member of the student council ever since he was a freshman, it was really nice to be thrust into the limelight, finally taking credit for his hard, behind-the-scenes work. He hadn't been planning to run for president- he'd only done it to humor his father, who'd done the same when he was a senior in high school, and besides, it looked good on college applications. He hadn't thought he had a chance, either- his rival, a boy named Stefan who was a first-generation Romanian immigrant, and was much given to muttering under his breath whenever he saw Marcus walking in his general vicinity, had what seemed like just about everyone in the school planning to vote for him. Marcus had set up his booth with all his homemade signs anyway, selling buttons and calling out to other students crossing the quad. They all averted their eyes, like they were ashamed by the fact that by the same time next day, he would have suffered a blowout loss. Until a boy who Marcus knew was in his grade and was named Aro strode over, in full view of everyone else who had lunch that period. He had introduced himself and frankly told Marcus that he firmly believed that he would make a better president than that "obnoxious little flip". He had proceeded to buy fifteen buttons, and then continued on his way. When the results came in, Marcus was flabbergasted- it had been a blowout, but he had been the victor. It turned out, Aro and his sister were on or had connections to every club in the school, and persuaded almost every member in his favor.

Well, anyway. He bounded into the kitchen, saying, "Morning, Dad!" as he slung himself into his chair across from his father at the mosaic-topped table tucked away in their breakfast nook. His mother set a huge stack of pancakes in front of him, which he began to dig into with relish. His three dogs came trundling in through their dog door from the sunroom and barreling around the corner into the kitchen, their toenails clicking and scraping against the marble floor. The dogs, Brutus (a boxer) Antonius (a German Shepard) and Claudius (a greyhound) boisterously vied for his attention, leaping up to lick at his face and nudging at his hands, begging for him to pet them. His father, a Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist, laughed jovially.

His mother sat down with stack of pancakes, winding her long reddish-brown hair up into a knot on top of her head and sticking it in place with a pencil. The family ate together in congenial silence, broken only by the clink of forks against plates, queries to pass the syrup, and the insistent panting of the dogs. "So, Marcus," asked his mother. "What are you up to today?" Marcus finished chewing and swallowing before answering, "I've got a trig quiz, and we're starting a lit project, and I've got a student council meeting after school. What about you guys?" his father waved his hand. "The usual," he responded, "Jumping through government hoops until seven o'clock." His mother gazed dreamily off in the distance. "I'll probably catch up on housework, do some baking, maybe get some work done." His mother, though she held some degree or another in virtually everything pertaining to art, preferred her job as a stay-at-home mom more than painting on command for people who wouldn't understand her work, or teaching to kids who wouldn't pay attention. So she'd converted half the third floor of their house into her personal studio. The other half was their library. The second floor consisted of the master suite and the guest rooms. The attic was where they stored all of their seasonal decorations and old things they no longer needed but thought might come in useful. The first floor was their cavernous living room, kitchen, dining room, sunroom, and foyer. The basement was Marcus' own personal domain, as he was his parents' only child. In it was everything a teenage boy might need to be happy, and then some.

"We're having meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner tonight," his mother informed him as he washed his hands of excess syrup and picked up his backpack. He kissed his mother good-bye, saying, "Sounds great," and then bade his parents a good day as he trotted to their large garage and maneuvered his Prius in the direction of school, still smiling.

As he got there, he parked, and made his way to the main building, where his homeroom was. Everyone he passed shouted out some sort of greeting to him. It was so nice to know that you were well liked. As he was strolling through the quad, he noticed a boy- it was Aro, he realized after a moment- collide with one of the school's resident punks.

Left side of his body aching, hand acutely smarting where he scraped it breaking his fall, and the knees of his jeans now even more torn, Caius picked himself up off the ground. Everyone was looking at him like he had clutzed out and fallen on the ground on purpose, taking an innocent bystander with him. And yes, he was used to people looking at him, but usually, his clothes and thin-lipped sneer made them look away quickly. It made him feel vulnerable, and more than a little stupid, so he lashed out. "Watch where you're going, loser," he hissed, realizing somewhere in the back of his mind that his mother had said almost the exact same thing to him not an hour previously. The nerd who had smashed into him had been floundering around, picking up his spilled textbooks (some of which looked like they might weigh more than Athenodora) straightening his tie and brushing grit off of his flawless backpack, looked up suddenly, locking eyes with Caius, not even looking a modicum of apologetic or scared, as anyone else met with Caius' Deluxe Rage Stare should. "I beg your pardon?" he asked, sounding incredulous and incensed at the same time.

"You heard me," Caius snarled. A crowd was beginning to slowly gather. "You ought to try watching where you're going next time." The other boy stood, books tucked neatly under his arm once more. "And what about yourself? Shouldn't you have been watching where you were going as well?" he asked. A little dark-haired girl was scurrying across the quad towards them, a black tie that would have looked punk if she hadn't covered it with puke-tastic pink rhinestones fluttering behind her like a second braid. "Oh, so now we're supposed to watch off to the side of us as well as in front of us?" asked Athenodora, standing shoulder to shoulder with Caius, a derisive laugh sharp in her voice.

The dark haired girl had arrived and stood protectively next to the other boy. She was tiny and compact, where the boy was thin and lanky, almost taller than Caius himself, but they were obviously relatives, from their pale skin and pointed chins to dark hair and deep-set green eyes. "What's going on, Aro?" she asked, brow furrowed as she looked from her brother with concern to Caius with distrust. "Your freak brother ran into me," Caius snarled once more. "Oh, now _I'm_ the freak?" muttered the boy, who Caius surmised was named Aro. "Have you seen your _clothes_ recently?" Caius curled his hands into fists ostentatiously. "Say that again," he challenged. A semi-circle of nerds had gathered behind Aro and the girl, and Caius could feel that a circle of his black-clad would-be friends had gathered behind him and Athenodora. Through the nerd circle pushed a pretty blond girl who grabbed hold of Aro's hand while scowling expressively at Caius. "Perhaps I will," said Aro coldly.

"Hey, what's going on?" said another black-haired boy, shouldering his way through the crowd and stepping instinctively between Caius and Aro. "This. . . guy knocked me over," started Caius before Aro could say anything. "I could argue that you are guilty of perpetrating the exact same crime," Aro interjected. Marcus held up his hands to silence the clamoring din that had broken out from the five people in the center of the circle. "Come on, guys, is it really that important? Let's all just move on before the administration gets involved and we all get in trouble." Aro nodded in agreement and the circle dispersed. "Unlike you geeks, I'm not afraid of getting a detention," muttered Caius as he and Athenodora turned and went on to homeroom.

Marcus felt two emotions warring for dominance inside of him. He was happy that he was respected enough to disperse a crowd that looked like it was on the verge of a fistfight, but he was a little worried that a fistfight had almost broken out just because of a simple collision.

A girl who he supposed must have been Aro's little sister turned around to him. She was significantly shorter than him, and had an air so sweet, dainty charm, the kind of girl you'd swoop up in your arms like a kitten just so you could kiss her nose, and she'd squeal for you to stop it, but you'd know she liked it. She was looking up at him, eyes bright, hands clasped over her chest, smiling. Marcus was struck dumb momentarily. She was so beautiful- not pretty, not cute, not lovely- beautiful. The most beautiful girl in the school. Maybe the most beautiful girl in the state. And she was smiling at him, cooing, "Thanks for getting involved- I thought that psychopath was going to rearrange my brother's organs! I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't jumped in!" Marcus nodded, trying to look cool, his mouth motoring along without his brain telling it to. "Oh, sure, no problem, any time." Didyme covered her mouth with a slender little hand, giggling. She fiddled with dark tendrils of hair by her cheek as she said, "Well, I've got to go- homeroom and all," As she turned to leave, she twisted back around partially, a creamy dent of concentration between her eyebrows and asked," You're the president of student council- Marcus, right?" with the sun shining behind her, she looked like a girl who video game designers would give their right hands to drawn into a fairy or an elf. "Yeah, and you're- I'm sorry, uh . . . .""Didyme," she supplemented. "Didyme," he repeated, the word rolling off his tongue like a sea wave- wait, where did that bad metaphor come from? "It's nice to meet you," he said, stupidly holding out his hand and instantly regretting it- did it make him look stupid? Did she think he was an idiot? But she placed her fine-boned hand in his and shook it firmly, demurring," Likewise,"

They went their separate ways, and Marcus, palm tingling, heart racing, was late to homeroom, the only thoughts in his head of ways he could see her again and get to know her better, and the image of her standing in the sun, twisting to smile at him.

"Aro, I don't know what came over you! You know antagonizing _that_ set never ends well!" Aro turned to look at his girlfriend next to him. "What, you don't think I could have taken him?" his girlfriend stopped writing down her homework in a purple planner to stare at him incredulously. "Please, Aro," she said. "Do _you_ think you could have taken him?" Aro was quiet until he sulkily muttered, "Maybe," more to be contrary than anything. If it had been anyone but his beautiful girlfriend Sulpicia, he would have responded with a snappy retort that left the air sparking, but Sulpicia had the talent of making Aro tongue-tied and graceless. A tense silence stretched between them for a moment until Sulpicia looked back at him sideways through her thick lashes, tossed her sheet of perfectly straightened golden hair over her shoulder. (A waft of her perfume, hyacinth, wisteria, and something tangy and sweet that Aro couldn't name, made him close his eyes momentarily in lazy, unthinking pleasure.) She said, "Well, I'm glad you haven't been lastingly damaged." Aro leaned across the aisle and tucked an escapist strand of hair behind his girlfriends' perfect ear. "I'm glad you're glad." He trailed his fingertips quickly down her neck to touch on the sparkling line of petite stones that perched on her collarbones- the fire-colored necklace had been a gift from him when she had first agreed to go out with him, and seeing her wearing it always gave Aro a lasting flutter under his ribs. She trailed her fingers, pearlescent and perfectly polished, down the bones of his hand, until the teacher walked in and began to take roll.

After homeroom, Aro and Sulpicia didn't see each other until lit class, two periods later. As the bell rang and all the seniors began filing slouchily out the door to their first class, Aro wrapped Sulpicia in a gleeful hug, pressing a kiss on her scalp. She hugged him back and they separated, several guys giving Aro the eye as he glided to his next class.

All through homeroom and first and second period, Caius sat in his desks, slouching and scowling aggressively at everyone, including Athenodora, who seemed to find his fit of temper endearing rather than frightening and kept giggling. He snapped out the first answer that popped into his head when the teacher called on him in class, and got the," don't-get-an-attitude-with-me-you're-not-so-great-you-stupid-teenager," speech. But that was fine. He'd learned to tune out teachers and adults when they were in rant mode long ago, and all the teachers' preaching did was waste instructional time.

Caius and Athenodora loped into lit class as the bell finished ringing. Their teacher gave them a disparaging look as they entered, and her hand twitched, maybe involuntarily, maybe not, towards the thick stack of detention and tardy slips she usually kept in abundance on her desk. Doling out detention seemed to be her standard response to Caius. Caius wouldn't admit it, but that was a small reason why he didn't like lit class. A large reason he hated lit class was because it could have been excellent if you were actually encouraged to say what you thought was true- teachers didn't want to hear it if you had an even relatively morbid interpretation of something. Another large reason was that he had a lot of nerds and goody-goodies in his class, like that dweeb who plowed into him earlier, his slut-looking girlfriend and the Good Boy who stopped him from making pulp and calcium dust out of aforementioned dweeb earlier. But the largest reason was that their teacher, this idiot woman named Isabella Cullen, was a fully qualified pinhead. She was always showing the class pictures of her husband, who always looked like he was constipated, and gushing on and on and on about both him and their snot-nosed, bratty little kid, whose name was so weird even he, a man whose name was a cosmic joke, found it hard not to laugh at. I mean, Renesmee? And then, insult upon injury, her middle name was Carlie? That was just cruel.

"Okay class!" sang the teacher once everyone had settled down. She tried to get up to the front of the classroom, but tripped over her desk and sprawled onto the floor. She picked herself up to the soundtrack of a few sympathetic titters. Caius merely rolled his eyes. "Well, anyway, as I've told you guys, we're going to be starting a project today. Now, because this is a class of twenty, we're going to divide into four groups of five. In the first, we'll have . . . . . Stefan, Vladimir, Amun, Kebi and Alistair. In the second, Kachiri, Senna, Zafrina, Charles and Makenna. In the third, Garrett, Mary, Maggie, Siobhan, and Liam. And in the fourth . . . . Aro, Sulpicia, Caius, Athenodora, and Marcus." Caius felt a vague sense of disbelief. There was no way possible he had just been landed in a group with arguably the most unashamed geek in the grade, the most popular boy in the grade, and the most sought-after girl in the grade. He almost would have preferred to be in a group with the creepy Romanian brothers who were always looking him up and down.

The nerd looked equally, if not more, disgusted than Caius felt. "Probably worried that I'll screw over his GPA or something equally stupid," thought Caius unkindly. The popular boy looked pretty happy with the group he had just been saddled with- he was possibly unaware of the fact that the group had no chance of working together; Aro and Caius would be far too much at odds. Caius smirked grimly at Athenodora, who looked quietly stricken. She kept darting little looks at Sulpicia, who was now jotting irritated notes in a plum-colored notebook. Caius wanted to reach out and squeeze the bones in her shoulders, to comfort her with the knowledge that he would be suffering as well.

"Now, the premise of this project is fairly simple, but it's going to be pretty time-consuming, and you'll have to work together on all of it." Caius mashed his lips together furiously. "Number 1- what kind of teacher _actually says_ 'it's going to be pretty time-consuming'? And number 2- what does she think we are, kindergartners?" he thought. The teacher clasped her hands, but spread them again to regain her balance as she teetered precariously though she had not moved. "So you're going to have to do a twist on the Greek tragedy Antigone- all about moral vs. civil law. You've got all the rest of class period to meet up with your group and discuss things, and I'll have a rubric and all that stuff for you guys tomorrow." Caius felt his irritation rising even more than ever- how were they supposed to get anything done if they had no parameters in which to work?

That gigantic dork Aro actually raised his hand with a question. "Yes, Aro?" she asked. "May we use any sort of medium we want?" She seemed to be thinking about it for a moment. "Uhhhhhh . . . . . No, it has to be a video, and each member of the group has to be in a majority of the shots." Caius cast his gaze around the room, to see what his fellow inmates- ah, classmates, thought of this vicious new twist in the already torturous project from Tartarus. The boy Alistair had sunk so low in his chair all you could see of him was his forehead, blazing red as a ruby. Feeling cruel, Caius snickered out loud. Athenodora saw what he was laughing at and joined in- Alistair was one of the shyest, most nonconfrontational boys in their grade, and he must have equated being put in a group with three of the loudest, pushiest boys in the grade with literally being thrown to the sharks. "His year is complete," he muttered to Athenodora, whose bony shoulders puffed with frantic laughter. Caius got the feeling she would not have found it half so funny under different circumstances.

"Okay, everybody, get to work!" Mrs. Cullen said. All four groups convened in the four corners of the desk set-up- and it was entirely possible that the corner that contained three boys whose walks of life were as different as it was possible to be was the unhappiest of the lot.

On the outside, Aro was very calm. But on the inside, he was seething with anger. Boiling with rage and resentment and every other hateful emotion he could think of. How could that sorry excuse for a teacher have the _nerve_ to pair him with the laziest, punkest, biggest underachiever possibly the entire school district had to offer and his probably-addicted-to-multiple-different-substances girlfriend? Marcus smiled at him encouragingly as he came to sit down next to him. Aro acknowledged him with a nod that came out far more regally than he originally intended for it to and leaned back in his chair. "If I was a cat, the hair all along my spine would be standing up," he thought, simmering. Sulpicia spared him a glance, and then continued furiously in her notebook. Off task, Aro decided that one day, he would read the contents of that notebook.

Caius and Athenodora detached themselves from their desks; Caius grimacing like his loping, leisurely gait was causing him physical pain. Marcus had already pushed together all the desks, and Caius and Athenodora slung themselves into the chairs, settling down, their body language screaming that they were a unit, that no one else was invited to their private world of two. An uncomfortable silence descended upon the group as they all remembered the events of three hours previously.

"Soooooo . . . . . " said Marcus, who seemed to be the most ill at ease of the group. Caius and Aro were glaring daggers at different corners of the room, Sulpicia was flipping her hair, twitching her lips, and staring into the ground, and Athenodora was biting her nails and darting glances at Caius.

"So, ummm . . . . . . Guys. Had anyone read Antigone?" asked Marcus. "Yes," Aro responded absently, still staring at the trashcan as though it had suggested that he fix everything by throwing something at Sulpicia. He turned his focus back to the group. "Yes, Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and his mother Jocasta. Her two brothers made a pact to rule their kingdom jointly, but one brother was the one who was doing all the ruling, and so the other went to war for the throne, and both got killed. Creon, their uncle and high king, decided to give one brother a proper burial, which was very important to the Ancient Greeks, but left the other brother, Polynices, out in a field to rot and decreed that anyone who touched the body would be killed. Antigone knew that burying him was the proper thing to do even though it had been outlawed, and so went out and sprinkled dirt on the body, to take the place of a burial. Of course, Creon found out and ordered to have her walled up alive. Then Antigone's' fiancée killed himself, and then a whole lot of other people died too- because it's a tragedy- but then Creon relented and wanted to free her from her prison, but when they went to do so, they found out she had hung herself instead of slowly starving to death. Very sad." Caius crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Great. Now that our minds have been enriched just_ that much more,_ we can begin." Aro glowered at him. "It's not as if _you_ knew what moral vs. civil law meant before." He snapped. "Allright. So, our movie has to have a theme of someone wanting to do something they know is right, but the government or someone else in charge says they can't." Caius, now staring back at the light fixture in the back corner asked, "What if we had a kid in high school who wants to kill this really nerdy boy who's always annoying everyone, and he knows that that's what he should do, but the administration says that he shouldn't, but he does, and even though he goes to prison, all the other students are very happy?" Aro's glower turned into a full-out glare. "Very funny," he snapped. "I know it was," Caius retorted, "Just not to me," interjected Sulpicia, crossing her arms over her chest, drumming her nails on her slender biceps. "Thanks for your protective little two cents, there, princess," Athenodora shot back.

"Well, anyway," Said Marcus loudly, looking from one faction to the other. "Does anyone have any other ideas?" Caius opened his mouth to reiterate his, but Marcus cut him off. "I have an idea! What if we had a doctor who finds an alien that crash landed on earth, and the government says that anyone who finds the alien must turn it in, but because it's sick, she helps it get better instead of turning it in, and then it goes home?" He was met with stares all around- Caius' was infuriated, Aro's carefully blank and emotionless, Sulpicia's with quiet disbelief and Athenodora's with outright disbelief. They all sat in silence for a few more moments, until Sulpicia softly said, "I have an idea," Aro immediately turned his attention to her. "I don't know how she does it," thought Athenodora. "Having him stare at me like that would creep me out way too much," Sulpicia looked up, and Athenodora could see, with woman's intuition, that though Sulpicia was playing the part of the shy schoolgirl putting forth her lowly little idea, she was quite confident in herself. This filled her with disgust and respect in equal measures.

"What if there's a boy who's been stalking a girl, but he's really weird and she doesn't want his attention. So she gets a restraining order. But then, when they're in the parking lot, because they're both in high school, he sees that there is a car that's about to run her over, and he has to make the choice between violating the restraining order to save her life or letting her die. He chooses to save her, and goes to prison despite his good deed, but gets off easy because he saved a life." Aro was still, eyes flickering as he considered his girlfriends' idea. Caius was half looking forward to seeing Aro struggle to tell her gently that he thought it was a bad idea, but he didn't want to have to come up with any more ideas (the one he had previously suggested was 99% snark, 1% seriousness.) and what she had proposed sounded like it might earn him his first A on an assignment since middle school.

"That sounds like it would be really good," said Aro supportively, laying his hand over Sulpicia's. She smiled and blushed coyly, looking up at him through lowered lashes. Caius pantomimed throwing up, sending Athenodora into a fit of giggles. That was when Marcus noticed that the group containing Stefan had ever so slowly inched its way across the classroom so that they were only a few desks away from Caius' back, as he was the one closest to the rest of the room. Marcus was immeasurably creeped out by this, until he realized that Stefan or Vladimir probably thought they could quietly steal one of their ideas. So a second member of the group became deeply disgusted. "Guys," he whispered, motioning for everyone to lean in. "Stefan's group is trying to sneak over here, probably to try and eavesdrop on us." Caius twisted around immediately in his seat and flipped Vladimir off. "What do you think you're doing, anyway?" he demanded aggressively. All the rest of his group was wide-eyed and frozen. "I've got my eye on you," Caius finished, turning around with as much attitude as he could muster. If the back of a head could stare, Aro was certain that was what Caius' was doing.

"Why did you do that?" Aro demanded in a furious undertone.

"They were trying to steal from us!" Caius responded, voice, if anything, raised. "Those scumbags are lucky I didn't bring my shotgun today! Friggin' pollocks, this is America! You can't get something for nothing here." He shot an icy glare over his shoulder at the other group, who looked awestruck by his outburst. "Caius, is there something going on that we should know about?" asked Marcus. Thus a third member of the group was filled with disgust, which showed evidently in the twisted expression on Caius' face. "No, no, I mean, you really seem like you hate those two. Did something happen?" Athenodora jumped in before he could. "He never really got over the fact that in the eighth grade, when we were reading The Outsiders, they jumped him and managed to cut off a lot of his hair with safety scissors." Caius glared at her. "I am OVER the haircutting, Athena. I was over that, like, two days after it happened. The thing that I am still mad about is that neither one of them had enough courage to come at me head-on; they jumped out at me from those ugly bushes by the library and ambushed me from behind! Even now, if I went over there and challenged one of them to a face-to-face fight after school, he wouldn't have the guts to show." Contempt was so strong on Caius' face and in his voice that Marcus could tell it had been something more than a silly little argument in the eighth grade, but he decided not to push it, as he barely knew Caius. "And what did your parents think of this?" Aro questioned heatedly. "You mean parent." Caius corrected. "And it's not like she cares about anyone but herself." Marcus was filled with sympathy- no wonder Caius was so rough and punk; he had a bad home life. But he couldn't resist smiling a little when he saw Athenodora discreetly squeeze his hand under the table.

"Okay, so when are we going to meet to do this?" Marcus asked. "Well, not today," said Aro immediately. "I have both a science and a debate club meeting today," Caius' original dislike of Aro resurged- what a total overachieving goody-goody! "When he gets sick, I bet he goes to the vet," Caius murmured out of the side of his mouth to Athenodora, who bit her lip and looked away, eyes glittering with mirth. "Well, that's good, because I have a student council meeting every Monday, too," Said Marcus. "My dance troupe meets every Tuesday and Thursday." Said Sulpicia, looking up from where she was scribbling once more in both purple planner and notebook intermittently. "Poetry Out Loud meets every Wednesday, so that day's out," Said Athenodora. "Oh, you're on Poetry Out Loud?" asked Sulpicia. "Ummm.. Yeah. I wrote a piece for Words Under the Stars." Responded Athenodora. "That's interesting. What was it about?" Sulpicia inquired. "Sleep," responded Athenodora, a little shiftily. Caius almost smiled as he recalled how he had gone to Words Under the Stars, and lurked in a dark corner of the outdoor amphitheater until she was up. When she had taken the stage she had looked pale, drawn and nervous- poetry was intensely personal for her, and she was obviously having second thoughts about sharing that much of herself with a crowd. But Caius had pushed his way to the very front row and settled down, much to the horror of the PTA mothers next to him, and then she had smiled and recited her work flawlessly. Jolted back to the present, he realized that everyone was looking at him. "Caius, are there any nights of the week that won't work for you?" Marcus prompted. "I have a previous engagement on Fridays," he responded. Aro narrowed his eyes a little but let it pass- he knew Caius was not on any club at school, and church seemed unlikely.

"So that leaves us with Saturday and Sunday." Said Marcus, satisfied. "Oh, wait, I need Sunday to study," said Aro. "You study _all day_?" asked Caius. Aro nodded. "Good Lord, your parents must be Asian," said Caius. "I elect to study because I want to make good grades," responded Aro, a little stiffly. "Okay, we'll start filming this Saturday. For the rest of the week, we'll work on the script," said Marcus, wisely budgeting two extra days to work, because it didn't seem likely that Caius and Aro would agree on anything the first time around. "We can meet at my house, if that's convenient for everyone. My parents usually work until 8 on Saturdays, so we can have all day." Said Aro, and Marcus nodded, very happy with the way everything was turning out. "Can you bring directions to your house tomorrow?" he asked. "No, don't bring it tomorrow, I'll lose it," interjected Athenodora. "I thought you usually rode with Caius," said Aro. 'Creep alert!' thought Athenodora, but she said, "He'll lose his, too," Caius looked at her with one eye shut, "I will not," he said indignantly. "Will so," she responded. "Will not," "Will so," "Will not!" "Will so!" "NOT!" "SO!" "I WILL NOT!" "YOU WILL SO AND YOU KNOW IT!" Their argument ended. "I'll bring it on Friday," Aro told Marcus.

The bell rang, and everyone began to gather their things. "Aro," said Marcus, wondering how to gracefully broach the topic. "On Saturday . . . . Will your sister be there?" Aro waved his hand dismissively. "Oh, no, no, she's going over to a friends' house to work on a biology project," Marcus tried to hide the strange disappointment that had taken root in his chest as quickly as it came. "Okay, great. I wouldn't want us to be getting in her way and all," Aro nodded his assent, but Marcus caught the look of shrewd contemplation in his eyes as he said, "How considerate." Marcus realized that Aro was a _lot_ sharper than he had originally given him credit for. The tension was broken when, as they were walking to the door, Stefan, maybe purposefully, maybe not, bumped into Aro, and Caius blurted instantly, without thinking, "Excuse _you_, simple."

All members of the group silently reflected that maybe this project wouldn't be so bad after all.

**I've been working on this for a while. (instead of some other things, and for that I am sorry- writing this was addictive.) The storyline is supposed to be a parallel to what Stephanie Meyer says happened in the Guide- Caius runs afoul of the Romanians, Marcus crushes hopelessly on Didyme, Aro wins all over the place, so on. Some of the Guard are going to be introduced in the next chapter, (super-bonus points if you can guess who Didyme's friends are) and in fact, a lot of stuff is going to happen in the next chapter. Thus, stay tuned. Please review to tell me what you think, I'd love to hear it! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hooray for the new chapter! Written with too much influence from the Twilight Zone, and chock-full of references to the book that these characters all came from! I'd say try to find them all, but that seems unspeakably lame. **

Corin got out of the beat-up green corolla, trembling. Santiago was _that_ bad of a driver. Corin has his license, but he didn't have a car, which was why he rode with Santiago. His parents had argued long and hard about whether or not to get him a car- but his parents arguing long and hard about things wasn't unusual. If they ever had been in love, it hadn't been in Corin's waking memory. It wasn't hard to see why they'd gotten married-today was Corin's sixteenth birthday, and their fifteenth anniversary had been a few weeks back.

Santiago grinned as he hopped out of the drivers' seat. "Hey! It's your birthday! Shouldn't you be wearing a dollar?" he asked. Corin and Santiago were sort of default friends. They both had an afterschool job at the same coffee shop (Santiago as a busboy, Corin as a bartender) they lived relatively near each other, and they shared an all-abiding interest in Lord of the Rings and Sci-Fi. They both had a bratty elementary-aged sister and a younger brother.

Corin shook his head. "Naw, I don't think so," their school had a tradition of pinning a dollar on your shirt when it was your birthday, and people you knew were supposed to give you a dollar. It just made him feel stupid. "Suit yourself, bro," Santiago responded, shrugging. Then Santiago lapsed into a long-winded explanation of some piece of work he posted on the Internet and got some good reviews on. That was the big difference between the two of them- Santiago's life revolved around writing, which was why he was on yearbook and the school newspaper staff. Corin was on the newspaper staff as well, but there was really only one reason.

A big yellow school bus had roared into the lot, enveloping the two boys heading towards the school entrance in a cloud of gray fumes. Lots of freshmen and sophomores who either couldn't or didn't drive stumbled off, the incoherent shouting of the bus driver echoing above their heads. Amid the crowd, Corin spotted two people. Even from behind, just seeing her made his heart beat in double time. She was speaking quietly with her brother as they walked in. Santiago's elbow smashed into his side, crushing his dreams of darting through the crowd to catch up together and walk together to their homeroom, newspaper staff. "Starin' at _her_ again?" he asked loudly, merriment sparking in his dark eyes. "Why don't you just shut up?" Corin suggested.

All during homeroom, she sat by herself at the front of the classroom, writing in a black and white marbled composition notebook. Corin knew it was lame and weird to be so aware of the every movement of a freshman that he could count the number of times she brushed the hair off the nape of her neck, and how many times she stopped to look back over what she'd written. But then again, this was the dreamgirl he'd never known was his dreamgirl here. After the bell rang and they all got together their belongings and began to leave, she walked past him, looking at him. Just that one appraising glance, her hazel eyes wide and bright under the fluorescent lighting would have been enough to make his day, but then she said, "Happy birthday, Corin." And went on her way. Corin was reeling. She had talked to him! And not only had she talked to him, but she had known his name and that today was his birthday. Knowing that his excitement was utterly ridiculous, he still went through the day beaming. Jane had talked to him!

{o . o}

Felix leaned back in his chair, hood up. He was very, very, very tired. His team had scrimmaged last night, and of course, his side had won. How could they not? He was arguably the best football player the school had seen since 2005, when the legend Emmett Cullen (actual brother-in-law of the twelfth grade lit teacher) had been on the team. And then after the game, he had to do his math homework. He wouldn't have bothered any other time, but his teacher was threatening to flunk him if he didn't have his homework one more time, and if he was failing any more classes, he wouldn't be allowed to play anymore.

It was three minutes until the tardy bell rang, and Felix figured he'd take a short nap, but when she walked I the door, he snapped to attention. She was head cheerleader and leader of the pep squad, which was how Felix knew Heidi. They'd dated on and off before he became quarterback and MVP of two years straight, but never got back together. But that didn't stop Felix from not so discreetly staring at her and winking whenever she caught him. One of his friends, Demetri, who was the star of the track team, had told him that winking didn't make him look like a "debonair yet roguish gentleman from the 1900's" and more like a "weirdo kidnapper creep," but Felix wasn't doing it for image reasons. He was doing it because winking was dang fun.

She situated herself in her desk, two rows away from him and Felix noted idly that her skirt really was too short for dress code, but he certainly wasn't complaining. He realized that she was watching him watch her legs, and met her eyes, flashing his signature smile and wink combo. She grinned and waggled her fingers sassily in return. Smirking broadly, Felix leaned back in his chair again, lacing his hands behind his head, feeling extremely smug. Something slapped the back of his head, and he turned around, annoyed, ready to duke out whoever it was. But then he saw it was Demetri, who usually sat behind him, and was always having issues with Felix "encroaching on his personal space." That was how he really talked- sometimes Felix was lost for minutes at a time trying to puzzle through what had been said.

"Felix," He said. "I won't say it again. Keep your head and shoulders OUT of my oxygen bubble." Felix turned back around to face the front, only to see a girl he'd never seen before slip through the door. Though she was speaking very timidly, quietly, to the girl in the front row, he could quite plainly hear her every word. "Ummm . . . . I'm a new student here, my name is Renata, and I'm trying to find Mr. Crowley's math class?" She said, pointing agitatedly at a schedule that looked kind of ragged along the creases, like it had been folded and unfolded way too many times recently. Felix turned to look at Demetri, who spared him the quickest glance and returned to staring at the girl. The look he was wearing was the one he got when he was about to jump a particularly high hurdle- complete and single-minded intensity. "Yeah, it's five doors down to the left," the girl told her, and she rushed out, a hurried "thank you!" tossed over her shoulder as she went, brown waves of hair streaking after her.

The intense look had melted away, leaving a dazed and slightly stupid expression behind in its place on Demetri's face. Felix's bellowing guffaw was drowned out by the loud bell.

{o . o}

Didyme sat up straighter in her first period biology class. Their teacher, one scatterbrained Mr. Mike Newton, had not arrived yet, though the tardy bell had rung. Didyme smirked, a little malevolently, as she realized she was probably still artlessly attempting to make a pass at the twelfth grade AP literature teacher. He had a fairly unconcealed crush on her, and, in Didyme' personal opinion, took far too high a view of her. Seriously. The woman was a clumsy incompetent. "How she got married, I'll never know," thought Didyme, shaking her head slightly.

She turned and bestowed a charming smile on he table partner. His name was Alec, and she was utterly certain that he was besotted with the new girl in their lab group. He was leaning on the tabletop, staring dreamily at the back of her head. Her name was Renata, and her table partner and the fourth faction of their lab group was Jane, Alec's sister. "But then again," thought Didyme, frowning a little, "I'm not sure if he's smiling because he's thinking about Renata or because he's thinking about something else entirely. Which knowing Alec, is all-too-likely." She had made the mistake of asking him, on the first day of school, what his favorite book series was, and he had launched off with fervor into a long-winded and inanely complicated explanation of some book series she had never even heard of, and only pretended to listen attentively. For the rest of the class period and the days that followed, he was very quiet and withdrawn, like he'd done something embarrassing. Slowly but surely, (and while having to endure many drawn-out explanations and analyses of Star Wars, the X-Men, and Harry Potter) over the course of the two months since school began, Didyme had managed to draw him out of his shell. She was ridiculously pleased with herself for this.

His sister didn't seem to like her as much. At first, before Renata had arrived at their school and been placed in the only empty desk in the room, Jane had perched on her stool all by herself and scribbled furiously and endlessly in a marbled composition notebook, not even stopping to take notes or pay attention to the lesson. Mr. Newton was so utterly disorganized that he hadn't even noticed her inattentiveness though she sat in the front row of blacktopped tables. When they had been forced to work together on labs, she had been coolly polite and distant, removed from both Didyme and her brother, revealing none of the fun personality Alec quietly promised her really was there. Didyme was pleased to note, however, that she seemed to be striking up a tentative friendship with the equally shy and removed Renata.

Mr. Newton eventually bustled in, and they started on the first section of notes in what their teacher had promised would be a highly educational series that would prepare them well for the EOCT and the lab they'd be beginning on Friday. Didyme had already learned virtually everything that Mr. Newton's syllabus had mapped out for them to learn that year back when she was in middle school, but she dutifully took notes anyway.

{o . o}

As Aro was walking from AP psychology his first period class, to lit class, his third period class, he was accosted as he usually was this time of day. Jacob Black lurched out of the woodwork to walk next to him. "Hey Aro!" he said. Aro attempted a friendly smile in return, but what came out was a tired grimace. Having almost precisely this same conversation daily made Aro almost feel as though he was in an episode of the Twilight Zone. "So, can I get a ride today after school?" he asked, without waiting for Aro to say anything in return. In fact, Aro thought irritatedly as he began puzzling out what must have been the thousandth polite rejection that year, Aro sincerely doubted if there was anyone in the junior and senior classes who didn't know the exact location of Jacob's home, and the best or quickest way to get there on any given day.

"Ummm, no, I'm sorry, I've got math club after school," he responded. "That's cool, I'll wait," Jacob responded immediately. "It might run over," he cautioned, viciously annoyed that his attempt to drive him off had failed, and he was now stuck giving one of the biggest tools of the junior class a ride home. "All right, cool! Thanks, bro!" said Jacob as he began loping away. "I am not your bro," Aro muttered, snarling.

When he got to the classroom, he was very surprised to find that his group was already gathered in their corner of the room, even Caius and Athenodora. Aro smiled as he strode over. He got the feeling this would be a very productive class period.

{o . o}

Sulpicia stretched, trying not to wince as Aro sat down next to her. Though the Springfield Ballet Company, to which Sulpicia has belonged since early elementary school, met every Tuesday and Thursday. Sulpicia found it necessary to work out extensively on Monday and Wednesday. Sulpicia was the kind of girl who didn't want to do something unless she could be the best. She very greatly enjoyed dancing- it was the only thing in her life she had chosen by herself solely for herself, besides as certain dark-haired intellectual- and thus didn't want to give it up. So she had taken steps to make herself the very best in her company. This was not an easy undertaking, what with every single little ballerina wanting to add the much-vaunted "prima" to her title. So sulpicia had no choice but to stay in peak physical condition at all times, and that demanded quite a bit of time and effort. She had been doing a new repetitive flexibility exercise, and all the muscles of her back and shoulders were sore.

She reached over to hug her boyfriend, and tried to hold back a hiss as his hands pressed on her back, a pressure she, any other day, would have described as not enough. She was trying to conceal the extent of her muscle pain from Aro because she didn't want him thinking she was a maniacal fanatic in need of psychiatric aid, (even after six months as his girlfriend, she still occasionally worried about what he would think about the smallest things) her mother always told her that true ladies never gave any inclination of when they were tired or in pain, and Aro's tendency to overreact about semi-unimportant things was sweet, but a little annoying.

She remembered back to eleventh grade, when they were both stuck in AP World History, which was when they struck up a friendship. Sulpicia had always found the great leaders of the past fascinating, and Aro knew seemingly everything- according to his sister, knowing more than everyone, including his teachers, was part of his quest to become a human computer. Sulpicia hadn't done well on a quiz she was certain she had prepared for, and made the mistake of mentioning it to Aro. He had snatched her paper and spent the rest of the period debating every single question she got wrong with the teacher. His frighteningly vast mental knowledge database and debate skills earned her a score that was better by three letter grades, and an everlasting, unspoken war with the teacher, Ms. Stanley, who always seemed ready to try to get her in trouble for something.

"Okay, guys!" said Marcus, whipping out a sheaf of messy papers from his backpack. "Now, I had a few ideas for our project, so I wrote them down-" "M'kay, class?" said Mrs. Cullen, standing up from her desk. Just as she opened her mouth to continue talking, the bell rang. Without even teetering, she put a hand on her hip and shifted to that side, glowering upward. She looked distinctly angry as she glared around at her assembled students while she waited for the bell to cease ringing. "Okay, listen up, guys. I've graded those essays you handed in a few days ago, so I want you to rewrite your essays according to the corrections I made." Aro and Sulpicia traded glances. Mrs. Cullen had barked out those orders like a drill sergeant. They never rewrote essays, but due to the impressive scowl plastered on her face, no one wanted to point that out. "And if you finish rewriting, you can work on your moral vs. civil law projects," she finished, and then sat back down in her chair in a very final manner.

"Stefan! Come pass these out," she snapped, tapping a pile of papers on her cluttered desk. Stefan hastened to do so, not wanting his obviously upset teacher to have anything to yell at him for. Everybody waited in silence for his or her papers. As soon as a few had been passed out, the class (which Mrs. Cullen often labeled as her most competitive) erupted into whispers. As Stefan handed Sulpicia hers, he winked. Sulpicia did nothing to stop the disgusted expression from transforming her face. Aro snickered, and Stefan paused, riffling through the papers. He found one and stopped on it, eyes bulging, smile wide and frozen, until he burst out into muffled, wheezy chuckles. He plucked it out from the stack and flung it spitefully onto Aros' desk, face-up, so Sulpicia could clearly see across the aisle the fat, red five out of nine emblazoning the white margin at the top of the paper. Aro, whose pale fingers had been fluttering around his paper, smoothing its edges as he scowled up at Stefan, paused as he took in the grade. Sulpicia saw him check the top of the paper, to be sure it was actually his. She covertly leaned over- and there it was, in black ink on the indicated line: Aro Vocisano. The margins were covered with red scribbles. Aro's chest had stopped rising and falling with breath, his face had gone bone pale, and his eyes seemed to have grown, taking up half his face. Sulpicia knew that he was running calculations in his head- probabilities of how that had happened, his current grade, and what he would need to do to bring it up. And then she could see anger seeming to flow into him from the ground. He straightened from where he'd been hunched over his paper (a last ditch attempt to keep the class- which had suddenly gone very quiet, all eyes on him- from seeing his grade) set his jaw and narrowed his eyes, bright crimson color flooding onto his face. He stood and swiftly stalked to the front of the room, holding the paper an arms-length away from him, as though the 5/9 would become tattooed on his forehead if it touched him for too long, like it's failing grade might be catching and transfer to all his other subjects.

"Mrs. Cullen?" He inquired crisply once he reached her desk. Eyes still closed, leaning back in her chair, heavy venom in her voice, she responded, "Yes, Aro?" Aro placed the paper delicately on her desk. "I say this with the greatest possible respect to you and your skills as a teacher, but I do not honestly believe there is nay way this can be my grade." Choked, bark-like laughter was bubbling up from Stefan and Vladimir, but was quelled by a quick and vicious look from Sulpicia. Or at least, she thought it was. From her peripheral vision, it appeared that Caius was giving them a withering glance, too. "I mean," continued Aro, snatching the paper back up and beginning to gesticulate wildly with it. "'_I think you knew where you were going with it, but I couldn't tell'_? Ma'am, I thought I made it abundantly obvious where I was going with it! In fact, I was worried you might mark it TOO obvious! And as for textual evidence, I believe if you look-" Mrs. Cullen help up one hand, the other on her forehead. "Stop there, Mr. Vocisano. Just stop there." She interrupted.

"I really don't want to talk about this, especially not with you, right now. Accept that you didn't make your usual perfect one hundred and go sit down quietly, like all the other good little boys and girls." Aro was staring at her, mouth hanging open ever so slightly, and the class was staring from Aro to Mrs. Cullen, riveted by what could shape up to be the highlight of the schoolday. "I mean," she said, throwing her hands up in the air. "Edwards' sick, so I sent him and Renesmee over to my mother's for the day, but my mother just texted that she's dropped Renesmee accidentally no less than five times, and that Edwards' in a lot of pain, so I have to cook dinner tonight, and I'm worried about them both, and I didn't get my coffee, so I've got a killer headache, so could you please, just for once, do what everyone else is doing, and just correct the paper, that'd be really great." When she finished, she slammed her head down on the desk in a way that made everyone wince. "But Mrs. Cullen-" Aro started, but was interrupted again by Mrs. Cullen swinging her arm up and pointing in the direction of his desk. "Aro. Go." Stiff-backed, Aro turned and walked sedately to his desk, very calmly placing his paper back on the desk surface and attempting to smooth the wrinkles his gesturing had caused. But Sulpicia saw the mechanical in his movements, and knew it was rage that was powering him.

Aro leaned back in his seat, arms crossed, the serenity bleeding off his face and giving way to fury. The class resumed its quiet buzz of talking, most students still shooting glances in Aro's direction as they compared comments they had received, shared ideas, and set to work redrafting their papers. "I will not rewrite this paper," Aro said under his breath. Sulpicia, thinking he was talking to her, turned to listen to him. He noted this and said, "She only marked my paper down so much because she hasn't been able to find anything wrong with any of my papers thus far this year. This is a gross injustice and follows just her sort of thinking: if a person makes a perfect grade, which, yes, I am saying I deserved, they should receive that grade. If she's not conforming to the system, I don't see why I should have to. Because of this, I will not rewrite this perfectly good paper, with which I can find nothing wrong,"

Caius, who had watched the proceedings with a tight smirk that didn't quite classify as a smile, said, "Whoa, everybody watch out, we got a BAMF over here!" Aro couldn't help but smile slightly. He realized vaguely that it was strange that Caius, a crusty, angry boy he would have had nothing to do with 48 hours previously, would be the one to bring a smile to his face when he was so ticked off. "BAMF?" he asked. "If you don't know, don't bother." Athenodora responded.

"Can I read it?" Marcus asked, holding his hand out for the paper. They sat in silence as Marcus read. Minutes passed, and he handed it back to Aro. In an undertone, which the other four members of his group leaned in to catch, he said, "I think that deserves an 8 out of 9 at the very least," Aro nodded emphatically. "Thank you! It's nice to know _someone's _being rational," he said, casting a furtive glance at their supine teacher.

The five of them spent the rest of the class period lazily, and, to Aro's mind, belligerently discussing movies they had seen or wanted to see and feeling not an ounce of guilt about it.

**Chapter two, funfunfun! Irrational Bella was fun to write, as was Angry Aro. Let me know if there's anything or anyone you want to see, and what you thought. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

Smoke, rising and twisting through the air, thin and cinders-gray, the acrid scent of fire and coal, the soot crumbling off ever so slowly, only to be incinerated by the inferno that raged below. Flames, roaring and crackling up from the red-hot embers at the bottom of the pit, searing and consuming, charring all it caressed pitch-black-

"We have to serve that, you know," A nasal and obnoxious voice interrupted Caius' pyromaniacal daydream. He turned irritatedly to see one of the so-called "Team Leaders" of his workplace blithely removing a small portion of ribs from their place over the flames and putting them on a plate with some broccoli concoction that Caius had never felt moved to try and sliced, cooked carrots that looked slimy. "You're lucky that old lady wanted them well done," she said prissily as she stalked away. Caius rolled his eyes and did his best not to shout what he really thought about her at her retreating back. Leah Clearwater and her brother, Seth, ran the Quileute's Barbecue, and Leah had not wanted to give Caius a job when he turned in his application back when he was a freshman. But Seth, who was infinitely more trusting, (and thus infinitely more simple-minded) had wanted to give him a chance. Despite how unassuming Caius found his boss, he was still grudgingly grateful to him. If he hadn't gotten this job, he didn't know what he would have done.

Firstly, he needed the money to pay his portion of the rent, as his mother's meager income as a waitress in a seedy bar didn't cover it. Secondly, he needed the money to pay for gas for his bike and for other things he wanted, because his mother sure wasn't going to be of help on that front. And thirdly, employees got all the free food they could hold down, so that he didn't have to pay for groceries or worry about cooking. He worked every school night, usually from about five till nine, and when he got off, Athenodora would be waiting for him and they would do something together.

The restaurant was really busy. Caius looked at the monumentally cluttered corkboard where orders to be filled were posted. "What kind of population had this many idiots who go out for barbecue on a Wednesday night?" Caius muttered to the new rack of ribs he had put on the grill.

{o.o}

The second Didyme climbed into the car, Aro knew something was wrong. His cheerful sister normally never stopped bubbling about how her day had been, and what had happened, but today she was taciturn and somber, curled up in her seat, head propped on the window. She did not even poke fun at Aro for his driving skills- which certainly left quite a bit to be desired. Aro knew his sister well enough to know that if she wanted to talk about what was bumming her out, she would, and let the silence between them continue. He did, however, turn to her favorite radio station in hopes of appeasing her. When they got to their building, their parents weren't there. But that wasn't unusual. After they let themselves in, they trudged up the stairs, went to their separate rooms, and commenced their homework.

The quiet hours of studying as the sun went down passed quickly, marked by the rustle of pages and insistent scratching of pen against paper and eventually, Mozart's flute etudes flowed quietly from Didyme's room. When Aro finally closed his last textbook- done his homework and studying for the evening, he noted with a small jolt of shock that it was very nearly eight o'clock. He scowled as he reflected that losing track of time seemed to be a phenomenon that was happening to him more and more often. He rose from his desk and walked to his sister's room. Didyme was coiled up on her bed, huge biology textbook spread out on her lap, head bent over the pages detailing cellular respiration.

"Hey, Didyme," he said softly. She jumped, looking around the room, startled, until her eyes alit on her brother, standing in the doorway. Aro smiled- getting lost in another world was something all too easy for the Vocisano siblings. "It's almost eight o'clock," he told her. "What do you want to do for dinner?" A spark of Didyme's usual happy appearance flickered back to life. "Can we got out for barbecue?" she asked, sounding breathlessly hopeful.

Aro truthfully did not want barbecue. He did not want barbecue at all. He wasn't aware that Didyme liked meat, much less this particular style of it. He wanted to humor her, as she'd obviously had a rough day, but his day had been trying, too. Most of the day itself had been good, but Aro had Wednesday afternoons free, and had decided to search for a club to join that met on that day. And on the morning announcements, they had said that the history club was meeting after school that day. So Aro had turned up at the meeting. Only to find out that it was run by Stefan, Vladimir and Amun, who had laughed in his face when he asked if he could become a member as all the little cretins in the club stared on, indecently interested. So Aro had done some research in the front office with the help of the secretary, Mrs. Cope, who was a very nosy person, and found that the history club was the least active and most poorly run club in the school- primarily because Aro was not a member of it. It was a sign of just how poorly run it was that Aro had never even heard of it before that day. An idea was percolating, off to the side in his brain, to start his own, rival history club, but he wasn't thinking about that at the moment. And he was also upset because in AP Lit, Mrs. Cullen had asked to look over the corrections they'd made to their papers. She had been coming down his row, and Caius, darting a quick look at Aro, engaged Mrs. Cullen in a long and drawn-out debate. It was quite clear to everyone except perhaps their teacher that he was stalling for time. The bell rang before she got to Aro, and he gave Caius a grateful nod on the way out the door. Caius merely rolled his eyes. And normally, someone unexpectedly risking their neck for him (which didn't happen often) would have made Aro happy, but it was upsetting because it meant that for the second day running, they had not worked on one word of their project.

Didyme noticed Aro's stuttering reluctance to commit for barbecue for dinner, and crystalline tears began forming in her eyes. Horrified, Aro realized that barbecue was necessary to ease the situation, and immediately agreed. Happily, Didyme bounced down the stairs; they climbed into the car, and drove to the only barbecue place in town- Quileute's Barbecue. However, when they got there, they found that seemingly everyone in the city was at the restaurant. Didyme looked at Aro, hopeful once more, and Aro had to comply. There was nothing he wouldn't do to make his baby sister smile. "If the wait is over 45 minutes, we're leaving," Aro cautioned.

As they walked inside, Aro noticed that the air was a lot colder than he'd thought. He smiled as his breath bloomed in front of him- winter was coming. His smile fell quickly as he looked around the interior of the restaurant. It was exponentially more crowded than he had thought. He and Didyme approached the hostess with trepidation. "Uh, hello, we'd like a table for two?" Aro said cautiously. The waitress did not look happy about this. "Wait's gonna be an hour," she told them tiredly. "Oh, Aro!" exclaimed Didyme, grabbing onto Aro's arm with one hand and slapping her forehead with the other. "Look- he's already here!" she pointed into the dining area at someone sitting all by himself at a booth for two. If it had been anyone else but his sister, Aro would have stared at them incredulously and asked them what they were thinking- they didn't even know that person! But he trusted Didyme enough to go along with it or let her sort it out when they showed up at the table of a complete stranger.

The waitress waved them ahead into the dining room. Didyme trotted over to the table, towing Aro behind her by the hand. She sank right into the deep booth across from the person, smiling dewily. That was when Aro realized that the person sitting across from her was Marcus. "Hi, Marcus!" he chirped. Aro pulled up a chair and sat it at the head of the table, trying not to show the irrational annoyance that was swelling up inside him. "Hey, guys!" Marcus responded enthusiastically. He had been sort of slumped over the plate of food that he had been picking at, but now he had straightened up, face ecstatic. He smiled widely at both of them, like seeing them was the best thing that had happened to him all day. "Wow, isn't this a coincidence!" Aro exclaimed, sounding pleased. A tiny thrill of smugness awakened in his narrow chest- he was nothing if not deceptive.

"What brings you guys here?" asked Marcus, looking from Aro to Didyme, who dimpled charmingly for his benefit. Aro resisted the urge to reach out and slap Marcus for looking enchanted. "Very stupidly enchanted," Aro thought viciously. "Oh, Didyme had an unquenchable thirst for barbecue!" he responded lightly. "Wow, that's' . . . . that's. . . ." responded Marcus. "Isn't it, though?" Aro interrupted Marcus' stuttering delicately. They sat there in silence until Aro, never one to be at loss for something to say, jumped in with, "Isn't it strange that this restaurant should be so crowded tonight? Who knew this many people liked barbecue?" Marcus nodded emphatically. Aro noticed that his face was slightly flushed, his eyes were brighter, and he seemed to constantly be fidgeting. He was usually never this animated at school, and there was really only one variable in the equation that had changed. As Marcus scanned the restaurant for a waitress or waiter, Aro glared darkly at his sister, who looked back at him with a combination of innocent confusion and indignance.

{o.o}

"Hey, Caius!" shouted Seth from the front of the service area as he loaded heaping plates of food onto trays to take them into the dining room. "It's really bad out here- get someone to take over for you and ask Leah for an apron and a nametag." Caius froze, shoulders automatically rising, every muscle tensing. "It don't really think-" he began, "Come on, hurry up! Order pads and pens are over there!" Seth interrupted, indicating vaguely with his head in the direction of aforementioned supplies. Caius looked around the kitchen desperately. Embry Call, one of his coworkers Caius almost didn't mind despite his dimwittedness, met his eyes, shrugged and reached to take the barbecue tongs away from him. Instead of feeling dejected, anger began surging through Caius, and he trudged off to find his team leader.

Leah, taking orders in the drive-through, rolled her eyes at him, told him where the aprons were, and because he didn't have a nametag, because he had signed up to work exclusively in the back, she told him to go without. "Get an order pad and pen, and for God's sake, get that scuzzy eyebrow ring OUT of your face," she ordered. Caius growled under his breath as he removed his cook's smock and arrayed himself in the sleek black cloth of the waiters. As commanded, he put his eyebrow ring safely in his pocket, plucked up the dilapidated yellow ordering pad and detangled its connected pen from the others and headed out into the main restaurant.

The din was hugely loud as people clamored for their food and struggled to make themselves heard. Babies wailed and children giggled, forks and knives clinked on plates. There were enough happy, loud, rosy-cheeked people stuffing their faces and smiling and laughing, just the sort of people who always called Caius scum and shook their heads and judged him that he wanted nothing more than to turn around and run for the safety of his customary position by the grill. Furious at himself and the circumstances that lead to this, Caius gritted his teeth and went up to the hostess podium, where Emily Uley looked distinctly p. and told him the tables he was supposed to wait.

His first four tables had done nothing but fan the flames of his irritation, so for the fifth table, he decided he would do something he had done in the past few times he'd been forced to wait tables. Caius had found that it made long shifts easier to pretend he was someone, anyone, other than himself. And so, for the next table, he decided he would pretend to be the most maniacally cheerful, oblivious-to-awkwardness person he had ever known. Because of his lack of a nametag, no one would ever know. Putting on his most uppity, pretentious airs, he walked over to the next table and started right into the mandatory spiel. "Hello, and welcome to Quileute's Barbecue, my name is-" he broke off as he actually looked at the people at the table and saw the very person whose name he'd been about to utter- Aro Vocisano, his snot-nosed sister and Marcus. "Caius!" Aro exclaimed. Amid the wild jumble of thoughts spinning through Caius's head, the one he vaguely caught was "that man is a cocker spaniel in human form," Marcus was smiling genially at him too. "Hey, Caius, what's up?" he asked. "My-name-is-Caius-and-I'll-be-your-server-this-evening," Caius finished with a stiff back and clenched white knuckles.

He noticed the girl smiling at him, like he'd said something nice to her, which confused him. "So, ummmmm…." Said Marcus, looking from Aro to Didyme somewhat awkwardly. "What would you like to drink?" asked Caius mechanically. "I would like water," Aro responded. "And I would like milk," added Didyme. "Would you like any appetizers?" Caius asked, bland smile still in place on his face. "Umm, no thank you," said Aro. "I'll be right back with that," Caius replied, striding off to the kitchen to place the order.

Once he was in the back, he cursed violently, making Quil Ateara, a highly impressionable sophomore, look up at him with wide and somewhat reproachful eyes, so Caius swore at him, too. Quil scuttled away, most likely to tattle on him to Leah, who had banned cursing in the restaurant unless you had burned yourself or chopped off one of your extremities. There was no one here he could explain his current situation to who would fully understand. Wishing with all his might that Athenodora were somehow there with him, he squeezed his eyes shut and stood still for a moment. Then he filled the drink orders and walked out, balancing the tray of cups on his shoulder and hands and praying to who or whatever could hear to let him not drop it.

He took the meal orders of the first three tables, went back to place them, got the drink orders of the next two tables, and trudged out of the kitchen yet again. He prayed for an asteroid to fall from the sky and incinerate the restaurant, or for an armed robber to come in (and maybe he could shoot Leah in the process of taking all their cash) anything to get out of having to wait table number five. But dutifully he went and gave them their drinks.

"Have you decided what you'd like?" he asked, trying not to brandish the pen and order pad at them (apparently, this made him look "threatening.") "I would like the barbecue sandwich, with carrots and broccoli salad," Aro said. Caius made note of it, trying not to tell Aro that some old lady had gotten the same thing as him, just with actual meat, not meat mishmash on bread. "And I would like the rib plate," said Didyme. Marcus and Aro turned to stare at her. Caius was kind of weirded out- she looked more like a tofu kind of girl. "Half slab, right?" Caius asked, doubting her ability to even eat that much. Didyme nodded, smiling brightly at her three schoolmates. "And what sides?" Caius asked. "Uhhh.. just a baked potato, please," Caius tried hard not to growl- he'd have almost preferred it if they had been rude customers that treated him like dirt, but no. _Of course_ the two of them would be so _unendurably_ polite. "Didyme, you don't have to prove anything to me- you can get whatever you want," said Aro, looking concerned. Caius surmised that meat did not make up a good deal of either of their daily diets. "Aro, when I said we should go out for barbecue, it was because I really wanted some ribs," she said. Even to Caius, who had accidentally crossed paths with this girl no more than twice in his life, this seemed like a lie. Marcus had shrunken back in the booth, trying to look unobtrusive. "So, still the ribs?" Caius confirmed. Didyme nodded, a wide smile showing dimples and pearly teeth. "Be right back with that," Caius said, stalking off again.

After he served the first tables he had been assigned to, he came back for Aro and Didymes' order. There, sitting on the warming tray, was Aro's barbecue sandwich, but with double servings of coleslaw, and sitting beside it was a full rack of ribs surrounded by fries. "This table fives' order?" he demanded of Embry, jabbing the air above the two plates. Embry looked, nodded, then turned back to tend to the hash he was making. "You on stupid pills?" Caius asked, very amiably. "Huh?" asked Embry, looking confused. "This is _not_ table fives' order," Caius snapped, leaning over the counter to better fix Embry with his Deluxe Rage Stare. "Table five ordered carrots and broccoli, along with a half rack and a baked potato." Caius continued, pointing at the defects of each plate as he said them. "Oh," said Embry, after a pause. Caius vaulted over the counter and began to fix new plates, trying not to feel too bad about the bright red flush of embarrassment in Embry's cheeks that he had been the sole cause of. _Could this night get ANY better?_

{o.o}

Didyme kept the stupid smile plastered on her face and tried not to kick Aro under the table. It wasn't fair that Aro was monopolizing Marcus's attention! This had _not_ been part of her plan.

In actuality, Didyme's day had not been quite as horrible as she had lead her ever-attentive brother to believe. When she had heard Marcus making plans with some of his friends to go out for barbecue, and then his friends cancelled on him, Didyme had decided she and Aro should coincidentally show up instead. The thought of Marcus out to dinner by himself _had_ been enough to make her cry, almost, and that was exactly what would have happened if she hadn't managed to convince her brother of her keenness for barbecue. She didn't think there was anything wrong with this- her brother had helped her achieve an end, albeit unwittingly. Judging from the glares she was getting from her brother whenever Marcus looked away, he had figured it out. Didyme felt vindicated. If he tried to bring anything about this up, she'd just have to remind him of the time when he forced her to troll on Sulpicia's Facebook page for three hours straight so he could troll on her Twitter after she had agreed to go out with him so he could know when she changed her relationship status so he could change his.

And Aro seemed to be purposefully talking about things he knew she had no knowledge of, not letting her join in the conversation, and artfully changing the subject whenever she did. Well, at least Marcus was attempting to be a gentleman and include her, by asking her what her opinions on subjects were (Didyme was running out of ways to say she had no clue without sounding stupid). As Aro changed the subject yet again, Didyme gave in and administered a sharp kick to his kneecap. Aro ignored her and continued talking. Didyme tried not to shriek.

{o.o}

Caius interrupted, bearing their tray of food with a scowl stitched insistently on his face. He wordlessly placed their food in front of them respectively and stepped back, tucking the tray under his arm. "Sorry it took so long- they have some serious idiots working the kitchen tonight," he said. "That's perfectly all right," Aro responded graciously, making Caius feel like he was talking to a teacher or an adult. "When's your shift over? You could come hang out with us when it's done," Marcus offered, smiling hopefully up at Caius. "When all the people whose tables I'm waiting have left," Caius answered, unable to keep a little bit of stoniness out of his tone. "Oh, that's cool," said Marcus. "Well, if you get a chance…." He trailed off. Caius attempted a smile, but the strange curling of his lips in no way resembled a happy expression. He strode away to attend to the people at table one, who were having issues because their meat wasn't cooked right.

Table one left in a huff after Caius suggested that if their meat wasn't done enough, maybe they should go and cook it themselves, followed slowly by table three (two old people who'd held hands the entire meal) and then table two left as well (a young couple juggling two small children and three infants, four of whom had fallen asleep). Table four, a loud gaggle of middle-aged women, left along with the rest of the people in the restaurant. Caius had known this would happen. Around nine o'clock every night ,the restaurant became a ghost town, no matter how crowded it had been earlier in the evening. There was only a smattering of people left, the knot of teenagers at table five included. After Caius had wiped off his tables and put their chairs up (the restaurant closed at ten on weeknights) Seth called him up to the front. "Hey, Caius, thanks a lot for jumping in to help out. I know it's not your bag, but we all really appreciated it." Seth clapped him on the shoulder. "Why don't you just clock out now? You can hang out with your friends!" Caius stared blankly at Seth, not sure what he was talking about, and then realized that he meant Aro, Marcus and Didyme. "Umm, Seth, I just go to school with those people, we aren't friends," he responded, voice lowered as if they would somehow hear him. "That's cool, you can just leave early, then." Caius thought about it for a second. "Okay, I will. Thanks, Seth," he said, trying not to break into a sprint to the back to put away his apron and order pad.

He clocked out, pulled on his leather jacket, and had been trying to leave without being spotted (of course, the brilliant architects of the building had only put one exit in the back, which ordinarily wouldn't have been a problem, but on this night, to use it, he would have had to get past Leah, and that was one conversation he definitely felt he could do without.) when, as his luck would have it, Marcus spotted him. "Hey, Caius, come on over!" he said. Unable to see any way out of it, Caius grudgingly changed course. Aro put the chair he had been sitting in back at the table he'd gotten it from and slid into the booth next to Didyme. Marcus scooted over in his booth to make room for Caius, who flung himself down and didn't bother to disguise the disgust he felt.

"We were just talking about our project, Caius," Aro said. "Yeah," Marcus chimed in. "We've decided that tomorrow in class, we'll work on the script, then on Saturday, we'll start filming at Aro's house. But we have to get the script finished pretty quickly, because on Friday, we're going to need to discuss costumes. Is that okay with you?" asked Marcus. "Sure," Caius replied, feeling vicious. He noted, a little smugly, that Didyme had not managed to consume half of her ribs and they sat in an uneaten and saucy pile on her plate. Caius also noticed that Didyme's smile looked a little fake, and her fingers were curled into little perfectly manicured claws. "Im still not entirely sure what project you're talking about," she twittered, sounding exasperated under a thin veneer of sweetness. "Oh! I'm so sorry!" said Marcus, sounding chagrined. "We were assigned a project in our lit class, and it has to have themes of moral vs. civil law in it, and it has to be a movie, and we three are in a group together," he explained rapidly, as though firing the information at her quickly might make her forget that he hadn't volunteered it in the first place. "Ohhhh," responded Didyme, sounding enlightened. "So are you three the only people in the group?" she asked. "Nope," chirped a voice from behind them. All four heads snapped to turn around to see the speaker. Athenodora was striding towards them, boots clicking and jewelry sparkling. She slammed herself down in the booth next to Caius, tipping her head to look irritated at him. It occurred vaguely to Caius that he should be worried that Athenodora looked irritated at him (it took quite a lot to make her outwardly show annoyance) but really he was just relieved. It was as though his thoughts had summoned her, the perfect antidote to the thick layer of Pure Nerd that had descended over the table and its occupants.

"Athena!" Caius said, trying to keep the glee out of his voice. "Caius, my darling. Marcus, my charming acquaintance. Aro, my nerdy acquaintance. And Girl Who Showed Up To The Fight-That-Almost-Was On Monday Morning. Delighted" Said Athenodora, with a magnanimous nod to each as she addressed them. "Didyme; I'm Aro's sister," Didyme supplied, leaning forward and offering her hand for Athenodora to shake. Displaying her unique talent for doing outrageous things that made Caius laugh, instead of shaking Didymes' hand, she bowed over it in a very courtly manner, saying, "My lady." Caius fought the urge to snicker. "Caius, you fleabite," she continued in an affable tone after Didyme withdrew her hand. "I have only been waiting outside for you for the past thirty minutes, and when you just never showed, I decided to come in and see how much food Leah was going to turn your butchered corpse into," A sinking feeling in his stomach, Caius recalled with crystalline clarity having told Athenodora earlier in the day that he would be off at eight o'clock that day, only to get to the restaurant and find that he'd been looking at the wrong hours. "My bad," he said, wincing. "Your bad, indeed," she replied haughtily, her pale blue eyes wide with reproach.

"Athenodora, it's excellent that you're here!" Aro exclaimed. "We were discussing our project. We're going to work on the script tomorrow, costumes on Friday, and then film on Saturday at my house," he said. Athenodora, biting her lip, squinting, and looking intently at Aro, "Ummm, what is the appropriate response to give here? Because you've obviously already mapped it all out, so… Yeah. Sure. Your flawless plan sounds flawless, as per usual. Let's go with that," She said. Caius really did laugh this time. Aro frowned disapprovingly at them. The restaurant was completely deserted by this time. The table of teenagers was the only one left in the dining area. Aro opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the pinging of the bell over the door. Walking through the door, wearing sweatpants, hair twisted up into a messy bun and wisps of it matted with sweat to her forehead and neck, point shoes slung around her shoulder like a fashion statement, and face completely devoid of makeup, was Aro's impeccable girlfriend Sulpicia.

The four high schoolers sat in astonishment, mouths hanging open, staring. None of them had ever seen Sulpicia looking quite so tired, so dressed down, so…. uncaring. Aro recovered first. "Sulpicia!" he called out, motioning for her to come over, and then frantically scooting Didyme over so that she was pressed up against the wall and there was enough room in the booth for Sulpicia to sit. Caius full out grinned, wolfish and wide. He couldn't wait to see how this would play out.

{o.o}

Every step she took hurt. This was a new level of muscle pain. Sulpicia's first thought after she had staggered out of what was possibly the most grueling ballet rehearsal of her entire career was to find a hot tub and occupy it immediately and stay there for the very foreseeable future. Her second thought was for meat. Any kind of meat, and lots of it. Sulpicia had decided, as she bundled into her car, that, as bizarre cravings that she got after particularly challenging rehearsals went, this urge for meat was not too unhealthy. So she had driven to the only barbecue restaurant in town, Quileute's. She had parked her car in the almost deserted lot, and simply slumped in, recalling how, when she'd walked into the ballet studio, she'd found her arch-nemesis, Marcella, the girl who had fought with her over every dance role since the carrot in the vegetable patch in their kindergarten recital, practicing all of the steps to Sulpicia's solo. She had known in that moment that the rehearsal would not be a good one. But when she saw Aro, her spine, which had previously been curved in an uncaring posture, snapped up straight. There had been only one person she had not wanted to see her this way, walking gingerly from her rehearsal, wearing sweatpants and no makeup, and that was Aro Vocisano. She knew her boyfriend wasn't shallow enough to think any worse of her for looking this way, but it was a matter of personal pride. And, oh, great, all the other members of her lit group were there, too!

Sulpicia sat down in the booth next to Aro, who greeted her with his usual hug and kiss on the cheek. The manic light that always came into his eyes when he was with her had not diminished at all upon seeing her in her current state. "Hello, Aro," she said, diction as flawless and formal as ever. There were some things you just didn't let slip. "Hi, Pici!" chirruped Didyme. Aro's little sister was the only one Sulpicia would ever consider permitting to call her by the pet name of 'Pici'. Sulpicia managed a smile for her. "Are you all right?" Aro asked, voice infused with concern. He began tracing circles up and down her spine with the tips of his fingers. "Yes, I'm fine. I just… came from a really rough rehearsal," she said, surprising herself by leaning into the light push of his fingers- she usually did not touch anyone or permit anyone to touch her in public, but for the occasional hug from Aro at school. "Rehearsal?" asked Marcus. "Yes, my ballet company meets every Tuesday and Thursday nights, but because we have a performance coming up, we had an extra rehearsal tonight. And when I walked in tonight, that absolute _she-demon_ Marcella was practicing the steps for_ my_ solo. I mean, I know she's pathetically envious and wishes she was prima ballerina, but _honestly_, practicing the steps to _my_ solo, right in front of my face, is taking things a little bit far," Sulpicia responded. She knew Aro and Didyme cared, and was obscurely aware of the fact that she had just completely whined about the petty dramas that she knew were of little to no true importance to three virtual strangers, two of whom serially did not care, but she found that it didn't bother her. Even though she knew, come literature class the next day, it would.

Aro signaled one of the waiters who was still working. "What would you like?" Aro asked, wrapping his arm protectively around her, forehead knit into a line of worry. Sulpicia felt a saccharine-sweet feeling burbling up inside of her- Aro was such a sweet, supportive boyfriend! The sweetness was replaced by sour as she realized that she must have looked truly terribly to be eliciting this kind of response from him. "Ribs," Sulpicia responded immediately. "Any ribs you have left, please," the waiter made a note and hurried back out with the plate of ribs. Despite her less-than-desirable appearance, she still maintained her dignity and delicately picked the meat off the bones, munching tidbits and savoring in it. "Well, isn't this a strange coincidence? All five of us running into each other, by chance, here?" Aro said, looking around placidly at his assembled group. "And me!" Didyme injected brightly. "I think it's a sign," he continued. "Today I tried to join the history club and it's proprietors," Aro's face went dark as he talked, "laughed in my face. I took this as a dismissal. And so I want to start my own history club, and I was wondering if any of you would be interested in joining after I get permission for it from Mrs. Meyer." They all sat in silence. Sulpicia reflected that the likelihood of the principal granting Aro, the most exemplary student the school had to offer, permission to form a club was highly likely. "We'd meet on Wednesdays, after Poetry Out Loud," he said, inclining his head in Athenodora's direction. Didyme looked thoughtful. "A history club. What an intriguing idea. I'd join," she said. "Me, too," said Marcus shortly afterwards. Caius and Athenodora seemed to be exchanging a series of coded glances. "I might join," Athenodora conceded after a few moments. Caius scowled around at all of them, and with a sigh, responded, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I might as well," Aro turned to look at Sulpicia, bright hope so strong in his face that Sulpicia couldn't bear to crush it. "Of course," she said.

"Wonderful!" Aro exclaimed. "I think this is going to be a great idea!" His giddiness was both evident and infectious. As Sulpicia finished her ribs, Aro paid for his, Didyme's, and Sulpicia's food, and Caius and Athenodora amused themselves by kicking each other under the table, they all couldn't help but smile. They all dispersed to their separate vehicles and drove home. The next day seemed like it would be full of promise.

**All right! Chapter three, finally! I feel like I've been working on this forever! I enjoyed writing it, though, so let me know what you think, and let me know if there's anyone you want to make a cameo. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Prepare for the delights that await you in chapter four! A Jane and Alec backstory teaser, bad gangster moments, deception, happenstance collisions, and inside jokes. I hope you enjoy it!**

During the drive to school the next morning, Aro realized something imperative. "Didyme," he said sternly. "I know you planned that whole thing yesterday, with running into Marcus at the restaurant. And I do not approve," He continued. He did not trust his driving skills, which were tenuous at best, to permit him to take his eyes away from the road and fix her with a scowl. "What?" she said indignantly. "I heard him planning to go out for barbecue with his friends, and that was when I realized I really wanted some. How was I supposed to know he'd be at that particular restaurant?" Now Aro had to shoot her a disparaging glance. "Didyme, that's the only barbecue restaurant in town," He informed her. She had no reply to this, and instead examined her faultlessly polished nails.

As they parked in their spot in the school lot, Aro turned and plucked up one of his sister's hands, cradling it in his own. "Just….. be careful, please. I don't want Marcus to think that my little sister is after him," he said, concern for his sister's reputation singing in his tone. "Aro," she responded firmly, clasping the tangle of their fingers with her other hand. "First of all, I'm not after him. You don't have to worry about it, I'll keep well enough out of his way for a time. And second of all, it could be worse. I could be after Caius!" They both laughed and went their separate ways. Aro was left with the distinct impression that his dear little sister had not been entirely truthful.

{o.o}

As Didyme walked into her biology class, she saw Alec, Jane and Renata talking. Her smile was full of cyanide as an idea occurred to her. "Hey, guys!" she said, beaming as she sat down next to them. "Hey, Didyme," Alec greeted her. "So, anyway, this weekend, for our project, my parents said we could meet at my house, if that's okay with you guys?" Didyme asked, being sure to look every member of her group in the eye as she spoke, the way her mother always did. "That actually would be a lot better than meeting at our house," said Jane, as that had been their previous plan. Alec nodded vehemently, and Didyme wondered, not for the first time, what it was that they didn't want people to know. No one had ever seen their house. They didn't appear in the school directory or in the phone book. When Didyme had asked them for their house phone numbers at the start of the school year (she did this in every class, in case she ever forgot to write down her homework or something) Alec had glanced at Jane, who had given him an imperceptible but very firm, "no." Both of their outfits were always the very height of preppy fashion, as though their parents shopped exclusively at Lands' End, and yet neither child ever looked comfortable in them, nor did the outfits ever look like something a child would voluntarily pick out to wear. One time, in the middle of September, they had gotten a grade on a test back, and Alec's had been a low C. The next day, Didyme had noticed something imprinted on the skin of Alec's arm, just below the edge of his sleeve- a collection of deep purple bruises, in a pattern suspiciously like the grasp of a hand. Both twins were always quiet, always looked startled when they were addressed directly by an adult, and once, when she'd gotten a bad grade on a math test, Jane had sprinted out of the room, but not in time to keep the class from seeing her burst into tears. Didyme had a vague idea of where all these signs pointed, and this worried her. In fact, this worried her a great deal. She managed not to say anything about it to either of them, or to anyone else, because if they wanted to talk about it or wanted her help, they'd let her know, but she wholeheartedly agreed with the nagging voice inside of her that said there was something more she could be doing

She took into her mind to casually bring it up to Aro later in the day, and kept up her smile anyway, saying, "So, this Saturday, my house, eleven o'clock?" Renata nodded- she was one of the few people Didyme knew who actually preferred to communicate silently. It would not have surprised Didyme at all to find out she was a champion sign language speaker. "Great!" Didyme burbled, tearing a piece of paper into two strips and neatly printing her house address on both, handing one to Alec and one to Renata. "Actually, Didyme," began Alec, a blush steadily taking over his pale skin. "If we're going to meet at your house now, Jane and I are probably going to need a ride," Didyme responded immediately, "Oh, it'll be no trouble. My brother and I will just come pick you up. I'll need your address, though," Jane looked up from Didyme's address on the slip of paper she had taken from Alec and said, "Maybe you should meet us in front of the Barnes and Nobles, next to Stein Mart?" she said. "Yeah, I know where that is," said Didyme. "Awesome," said Alec conclusively.

Mr. Newton rushed in (late again) and attempted to teach the lesson for about five minutes until he threw his hands up and said, "I give up. Just do whatever you want," he flung himself down at his desk and began composing an email with vigor. Didyme made a mental note to ask Aro if Mrs. Cullen made any mention of receiving any longwinded emails later in the day. She pushed aside the enigma of Jane and Alec's possible familial turmoil as a matter to be mulled over at a later interval and began chattering animatedly to her lab group about their barbecue misadventure the night before.

{o.o}

Caius and Athenodora were walking down the hallway, on the way to lit class. Caius was dragging his feet because he truly didn't want to go, and Athenodora was walking along in front of him simply because that was easier than walking beside him, as the crush of bodies in the hallway made it impossible to stay side-by-side for long. "Gotta pee," Athenodora announced bluntly and veered across the hall into the girl's bathroom. Caius continued walking to the classroom, sighing, shuffling his feet, and scowling violently at any underclassman who dared look at him for too long. He only went because he had been told off many times by faculty members and students alike for lurking outside the girls' bathroom, no matter how many times he protested he was waiting for Athenodora. When he got to his classroom, lurking outside the door, like mobsters in a really, really bad movie, Stefan, Vladimir and Amun were leaning up against the walls, arms crossed and faces wrinkled into the identical scowls of people who find themselves more impressive than they actually are. Caius rolled his eyes and continued walking, figuring they might try to trip him as he passed, but would attempt nothing worse than that. But as he tried to cross through the door, Amun threw his arm out to bar his way. "Hey, Caius," said Stefan aggressively. "Where's Aro?" he demanded. Caius looked at all three of them in turn, expression getting more irritated by the second. "Why would I know?" He asked derisively. "Now get out of my way," he attempted to duck under Amun's arm, but Vladimir stepped in his way, blocking the door. Caius stepped back and crossed his arms, glaring at them, a burst of perverse pleasure blooming in his chest- he just hoped it would come to a fight so he could bust a few heads.

"We think you'd know because you're obviously friends," said Stefan, acting as spokesperson of the stony-faced group. "You're preventing me from furthering my education and nurturing my impressionable mind by keeping me from going into my classroom. This is bullying." Caius responded. Stefan waved his hand dismissively. "Where is Aro?" he repeated. Caius let out a snort of incredulity. "I'm not, by the loosest definition of the word, _friends_ with that skinny little nerd, and so therefore, I have absolutely no idea where he might be. What do you want with him?" he asked, suddenly suspicious. Stefan put his hands on his hips and Amun and Vladimir crossed their arms in unison. Caius snickered meanly at this. "Did you guys _practice_ looking like gangsters in a low-budget Lifetime original movie, or was it just a coincidence?" he asked. Ignoring this jibe, Stefan replied, "We care because we hear Aro is planning to found his own history club," Aro appeared as though he'd been called by name. "Not only planning," he said, voice so insufferably smug it made even Caius, who had no new reasons to hate him besides the fact that he was himself, grit his teeth. Aro flourished a piece of paper, cleared his throat regally and began to read. "I, Mrs. Stephanie Meyer, do hereby give Aro Vocisano, a most exemplary student in all areas, permission to start his own history club, for the purpose of enriching the minds of his fellow students and peers," Aro looked at the three other boys smugly. "And then that goes on for several lines," he said.

Jutting out his chin furiously, Stefan said, "Well, good luck finding members for this rinky-dink little club of yours- everybody who wants to be a history club is already in ours," Adopting a look of false sincerity Aro said, "Oh, I don't presume I'll be taking member s _away_ from you. Maybe our fledgling club can even work with yours on a booth for the December Carnival. I wish not to establish myself as your enemy, but merely as your offshoot and friend," he said, smiling. Much to Caius' surprise, Stefan summoned up a smile as well, saying, "But of course. How silly of me to assume otherwise!" Vladimir and Amun stepped aside sullenly, and Aro gestured with his free hand that the three of them should proceed into the classroom. Aro and Caius went to their corner, where Marcus and Sulpicia were waiting. "What was that all about?" Sulpicia (immaculate and polished once more) asked Aro as she reached out of her seat to hug him.

Aro triumphantly placed the paper containing Mrs. Meyer's permission on the table, which Marcus and Sulpicia leaned in to read. "That's great, Aro!" Sulpicia exclaimed. "Awesome!" Marcus concurred. "So, when's the first meeting?" he asked. "I was thinking this Saturday, after our meeting for this class," Aro responded. Athenodora slid into her customary place beside Caius, asking, "Why are Stefan, Vladimir and Amun snarling about causing freak accidents in the chemistry lab to kill the leader of the newest history club?" The self-satisfied look on Aro's face was very nearly intolerable. "I have permission to start my own history club, like we discussed last night. Apparently, somehow word got around to our friends and they don't appreciate it. They believe me to be setting myself up as their rival, which," He now lowered his voice to a whisper and they all leaned in to catch it, "I am, but they can't know that now, while we're so new. Until we have enough members to establish ourselves as actual competitors, they have to believe that we mean them (or at the very least can do them) no real harm. In reality, I plan to eradicate themselves completely and replace them as sole history club of the school," He leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms and smirked. Marcus looked a little shocked. Caius let out a low whistle. "Quite a game plan you've got there, bro," Caius said. He had to be a little impressed by the ruthless ambition Aro managed to display.

Caius was surprised when Athenodora vindictively said, "Good. Count me in," Aro drew a perfectly creaseless piece of paper from his flawlessly organized binder, replying, "I already did. You're all listed as charter members," And Caius saw, sure enough, in black ink under the heading 'Charter Members', were the names Aro Vocisano, Didyme Vocisano, Marcus Leone, Sulpicia Turati, Caius Uccello, and Athenodora Riccetti. "She agreed to let us not have a teacher advisor because, due to my successful involvedness on multiple other clubs and committees, she said that I had proven I knew what I was doing." Aro said, trying not to sound like he was bragging. Caius reached for the paper, but Aro snatched it up before Caius could touch it. "There will be plenty of time to discuss all of this at length on Saturday. For now, however, we must work on our project,"

After frantic rustling in his backpack (and Caius wasn't one to talk about organizational skills, but Marcus' backpack had so many loose pages of paper crunched within it that Caius thought if it was turned upside down, there'd be an avalanche,) Marcus whipped out the same papers he'd been attempting to show them earlier in the week. They all began to look over it. Once they finished, Marcus said, "Okay, so we'll need someone to be the guy, the girl, someone to drive the car and two people to be police officers," they were all quiet for a second until Athenodora said, "Sulpicia should be the main character- it was her idea, after all. And Marcus should be the creepy guy," Marcus didn't look insulted at all. "That's fine with me. Caius and Aro should be the police officers, "Athenodora and Caius met each other's gazes and snickered. "What?" asked Aro. "Having _Caius_ as a police officer seems like a little bit of a conflict of interests, given all the time Caius has spent being told off by police officers," Marcus gawked at Caius. "You've been in trouble with the _law_?" he asked. Now it was Caius' turn to wave his hand dismissively. "Obviously nothing important enough to go on my permanent record or land me in a juvenile correctional facility. Mostly cops just get an attitude whenever Athena and I try to hang out in front of any sort of established public venue," this seemed incredibly hilarious to Athenodora, who asked between giggles," What about that one time?" Caius scowled fastidiously at her. "That time was quite plainly and abundantly not my fault. Which we established," Sulpicia, looking back and forth between the two of them, asked, "What?" Caius leaned forward in his desk and tapped Marcus' script. "Say, why don't we focus on this project?"

"An excellent suggestion," Said Aro graciously. "We must address the problem of-" Aro broke off and stared mutinously as Mrs. Cullen called Amun up to her desk. "Let him be in trouble. Let him have broken federal law and have received a summons to appear in court for sentencing-" but alas, Mrs. Cullen did not give him a subpoena, but a stack of papers. "Could you pass out the rubrics, please?" She asked him. He obliged. He made his way around the room, coming last to Aro's group. Instead of distributing the papers one to each person, he simply tossed the five remaining papers in the center of their circle of desks. "Why does he go out of his way to be spiteful?" asked Marcus as he writhed, in a highly undignified manner, Caius noticed, under his desk to retrieve the papers. "He's just a spiteful person," Athenodora responded.

Aro scanned the rubric and his eyes stopped on a line of text near the bottom of the page. "My fellow classmates, we have a slight problem," he announced. "Please refer to the last sentence of the 100-point box," After everyone looked at it, Marcus summed it up by saying, "Oh, snap," Caius looked irritated. "Who even says, 'oh, snap' anymore?" Marcus began to look hurt. "I say 'oh, snap'," Athenodora jumped in. "But it's so, like, early 2000's. Not long enough ago to be retro, not recent enough to be current," Marcus stopped looking hurt and looked defensive. "So? I was just saying. I didn't mean for it to be analyzed by you two,"

Sulpicia turned away from the mini-spat and began to speak directly to Aro. "I vaguely recall Mrs. Cullen saying something about this earlier, but I presumed it was a slip of the tongue." Without looking up from his rubric, Aro said, "Having to have all members of the group appear in all the shots doesn't change much of the premise of our project; it just complicates things a bit. Excuse me," He said, raising his voice. "Please return to the subject at hand," Caius, Marcus and Athenodora all returned to paying attention, albeit Caius and Athenodora with a bit more attitude than Marcus. "We all have to appear in all of the shots. I think for the exposition shots, myself, Caius, and Athenodora can be trees or some other form of woodland creatures and blend in to the background." He was interrupted by Caius saying loudly, "Oh, no you don't. I haven't dressed up as a tree since I was in kindergarten, and I'm not going to start now," Smirking, Athenodora said, "Actually, you weren't permitted to participate in the performance, because you pushed one of the other trees off the stage at the dress rehearsal," Caius turned to her. "Wait, what? I didn't know you in kindergarten," Athenodora tossed her hair. "Well, I knew you. You pulled my hair on the first day of school, because I wouldn't give you the last piece of your puzzle and I got you put in the Quiet Corner for fifteen minutes," Caius looked even more confused. "You remember the first day of kindergarten?" Athenodora fixed him with a stern, pompous glare. "An elephant never forgets, my darling, an elephant never forgets,"

Now Marcus looked befuddled as well, their squabble put in the past. "Did you just call yourself an elephant?" he asked. Caius held up his hand, palm out, in Marcus' direction. "If you don't understand something Athenodora says, you're better off just letting it go," Aro cleared his throat loudly. Looking guilty, Marcus returned to the subject at hand. "I have some costumes and stuff at home that I can bring, because my moms' an artist, so she'd be happy to help," Aro made a note on his rubric, replying, "Excellent. Now, on to the other shots. When they're at school, we can just be students. And when he's being led away by the police, Athenodora, along with some of the other children in our building, if they're willing to help, can be onlookers. Will this be all right with everyone?" Everyone nodded in the affirmative.

Aro opened his mouth to continue, but as he was speaking, the fire alarm went off. Shouts of jubilation from other classes could be heard, along with a general triumphant sibilation from Mrs. Cullen's' literature class. As Caius punched the air, Aro threw his hands up, exclaiming irritatedly, "Now _this_ is just getting ridiculous!" Mrs. Cullen, having tripped her way across the room to pick up her fire drill sheet, which bore her name on the front so all the students could find her outside so she could count them present, and a box on the back side for that purpose, exclaimed, "Hurry up, class! Let's move!" All the children obediently filed past her out the door. Caius whispered to Athenodora as the joined the surging mass of students in the hallway, "Is it wrong of me to hope that this time, it's not a drill?"

{o.o}

Aro and Sulpicia were the last people out of the classroom and walked sedately down the hallway side by side. Once you became a senior, things like fire drills lost their excitement. Aro was still fuming slightly. For the fourth day, they had not managed to get much work done at all! This was the most far behind Aro had ever been on a school project. He knew he could do it all himself- script, costumes, concepts, and editing of the film- but he knew that Caius (at least) wouldn't react well to being told what to do. So he had to keep up this facsimile of the group being a democracy, when they all knew neither Caius nor Athenodora (and also possibly Marcus- truly, the man was besotted with _Didyme. _If that didn't speak for his decision-making abilities, nothing would. His sister was a lovely girl, but should have been firmly off-limits in Marcus' mind, as the sister of a friend.) had any business making any decisions about anything. As though Sulpicia could sense his mood, she slipped her dainty hand into his. This surprised and pleased Aro in equal measure- Sulpicia normally disdained public displays of affection of nearly any kind.

However, there were many children stampeding through the hallways, holding their ears and shrieking about how much loud noise hurt their ears. Despite the tether of their hands, Aro and Sulpicia were eventually separated and lost sight of each other in the crowd. Aro scowled deeply. Every moment he got to spend with Sulpicia were precious things, even when those moments happened to be trooping down a loud, smelly, high school hallway instead of working on a project they were desperately behind on. As a result of his reflections, Aro didn't notice where he was going and bumped into someone, hard enough to knock both of them down. "Not again," Aro thought tiredly. This whole 'running-into-people-and-knocking-them-down' thing had only just recently started happening. Aro was certain there was some sort of reason for this and decided he would have to figure it out. He scrambled to his feet to help the other person up. It was a girl, freshman, if her nymph-like stature and the slightly reverent wideness of her hazel eyes as she gazed at him were anything to go by.

"I'm so sorry, are you all right?" He asked. She looked fragile, like being knocked down in a hallway might result in her breaking a limb. "Yes, I-I-I'm fine," she stuttered as she took Aro's proffered hand and rose, a little unsteadily, from the floor. Aro smiled kindly at her. The poor thing was obviously petrified- she was blushing a magnificent strawberry color and blinking rapidly. He could see her pulse jumping in a vein in her neck- idly, he noted that her hear was racing. "I'm Aro Vocisano," He said, shaking her hand, as she still had not let go of his when he helped her off the floor. "You're Didyme's brother?" she asked, sounding incredulous. Aro laughed, "That's not my favorite way to be introduced, but yes, Didyme and I share a significant amount of DNA. Are you a friend of hers?" The girl let out a quick, breathy laugh at this, dropping her gaze to the floor. "I'm Jane De Chantraine, one of Didyme's lab partners in biology," Aro smiled broadly. "Well, it's very nice to meet you, Jane," Mr. Varner, the ninth grade math teacher, hurried past where they had been standing in the alcove where the water fountains were, segregated from the main throng of people, exclaiming, "Hurry up, you two!" Only a thin trickle of teachers were left in the hallway, grousing as they walked about how this was cutting into their instructional time. "See you around," he said, offhand, as they hurried to their separate destinations. She bobbed her head and grinned, eyes glittering.

Aro arrived at one of the unused parking spaces of the student lot where Mrs. Cullen's classes were supposed to meet. "Aro!" Mrs. Cullen snapped. "I left class after you and tripped no less than four times and still made it here before you! What took?" Aro responded seriously, "I bumped into someone in the hallway and had to make sure she was all right. I'm sorry, ma'am." Mollified, Mrs. Cullen responded. "Don't let it happen again," Aro went to his customary place at Sulpicia's side, noticing that Stefan was a bit too close to her for his liking. "Who'd you run into?" she asked. "One of Didyme's friends," Aro responded. "Her name was Jane De Chantraine," Understanding sparked in Sulpicia's' eyes. "Oh, the little bit that's in her lab group? She told me about her the last time we were hanging out," Caius shoved roughly around Amun and lurched over to them. "Did you just say you actually stopped and talked to Witchy Jane?" Aro frowned at Caius. He had been called nerd, weirdo, and freak enough times in elementary and middle school to where he deplored any and all formed of name-calling. "_Witchy_ Jane?" repeated Sulpicia. "Yeah. I'm in PE with her and her brother and one time we were playing dodge ball at the beginning to the year, and I hit him. But he's a scrawny little scab, so he fell, and, like, broke his stomach or something, and she came storming over and cussed me out," Athenodora, seeming to have materialized by Caius' shoulder, finished out the story. "So, knowing the delightful temperament possessed by our dear Caius, you could tell he wasn't going to take that one lying down. He responded in kind, culminating with calling her Witchy Jane. He meant to say another word in place of witchy, but as I had landed an excellent shot right on his mouth only moments previously, it came out witchy. And the nickname stuck,"

"That's cruel," Sulpicia responded. "Didyme said Jane's brother is her best and only friend. What would you do if someone hit Athenodora with a dodge ball hard enough to knock her down?" Caius eyed Sulpicia coolly. "I certainly wouldn't let loose with all the curse words I knew at a senior fully capable of knocking me into next week," Sulpicia turned away. "High school's hard enough without demeaning nicknames," Aro replied. "What should I do, offer her a written apology?" Caius responded irately. Aro was spared having to answer to that by a signal from Mrs. Meyer, indicating that they should begin to return to the school. Aro began walking fast enough to be classified as a trot. "Everyone hurry up," He called over his shoulder to his group. "We have lots and lots of work to do,"

{o.o}

As the school began moving en masse to their classrooms, Marcus kept a sharp eye open for _her_. When they all had been coming out of the school, Marcus had contrived to run into the gleeful, giddy girl he had been unable to get off his mind for the past week. Didyme had been nowhere to be seen. He scanned the crowd, and realized that his searching for her was bordering on nervous. He checked himself. What was wrong with him? She was only a freshman, and the sister of one of his friends.

Suddenly, his eyes alit upon her. Daring a quick glance at Aro, who was engaged in talking with Sulpicia, he began heading over to her. "Hey, Didyme," he said, smiling at her. She looked like he had startled her, and after the look of momentary surprise faded, she smiled charmingly in return. "Hi, Marcus!" she replied cheerily. "How are you?" Marcus asked, as a matter of habit. "Would you like the long version or the short version?" she inquired. "The long version," He responded. "I'm not looking forward to having to go back to class, I'm dropping cheer team, I have a lot of research to do, I'm contemplating getting a haircut, cauliflower has a taste most foul, Aro needs to invite Sulpicia over more often, and my cat needs to stop crawling into my bed in the middle of the night, because I kicked him on accident last night, and now he may be plotting my death. And yourself?" Marcus thought for a moment before responding sanguinely, "I'm good."

"Ugh!" Didyme exclaimed. She twirled around gracefully, twittering, "You're good? That's all? You must elaborate for me, Marcus!" She laughed and reached out and grabbed his arm, swaying a little woozily. "I'm dizzy," she giggled, by way of explanation. They joined the huge mass of children waiting to enter the school building. "So? What else?" plied Didyme. "Uhhhhh. . . . . . This literature project is going to be pretty fun," He offered hopefully. "The project that you're working with my brother on? What a nightmare _that_ must be! Is he micromanaging absolutely everything yet?" she asked. Marcus laughed. "No, not yet," he responded. He knew it was illogical and overreacting to say he felt like his entire body temperature dropped five degrees when she removed her tiny hand from his arm- like stepping from a warm shower into a cold hallway. "So what class are you heading back to?" he asked, hoping his line of questioning didn't seem intrusive or stalkerish. "Math," she responded, tossing a lock of hair behind her shoulder. "What about you?" she continued, looking up at him from under her lashes. "Ummmmm, back to lit," he responded. "Oh, silly me!" she trilled.

"So, this is it?" Marcus asked, when they arrived at the ninth grade math classroom. He instantly regretted it- he'd had math in this room four years ago himself, of course this was it! "Yes," Didyme responded. And then she bounced up on her tiptoes, wrapping her elfin arms around his torso and pressing her face to his shoulder. Marcus responded without thinking, his arms closing around her snugly, and his only thought was, "this feels _right_," She let go after a heartbeat. It felt like an eternity to Marcus at the time, but when he looked back on it, it seemed she had only hugged him for the most infinitesimal second. "See you around!" she chirped, lightly dancing into her classroom.

Marcus walked back to his own classroom. Everything around him had a slight edge of surrealism to it, like Didyme was the only thing that was actually real and everything else was a mere daydream. Also, hugging Didyme didn't seem quite real, either. He knew that once he had a little time to let it sink in, it would become very real, indeed. He sat down in his chair, smiling secretively. "Marcus, its good you're here," the unspoken 'at last' that Aro's reproachful tone implied made Marcus feel ashamed. He analyzed that. Why did he feel ashamed? It was not as though he planned to take advantage of Didyme, or as though he intended to hurt her- or even intended to date her. It wasn't as though she liked him- hugging might just be what she did with all her friends. It was no use letting himself misinterpret the smallest and most innocent of gestures, leading himself down a road of distortion and deception. "Uhhhh…. Sorry, I just had to talk to a teacher," he responded, looking Aro right in the eye as he said it. He was instantly appalled by himself. The lie had just rolled out before he could do anything to control it. Aro seemed to accept this, which made sense, as he himself should know something about talking to teachers.

"Well, tonight, I'd like it if you could email me a copy of the script," He said to Marcus as he wrote his email address on a piece of paper. "Who has a camera they know how to use?" he asked as he handed Marcus the paper. "I do," Athenodora volunteered. "If you could please remember to bring it to school tomorrow, that would be wonderful." Aro returned to addressing Marcus directly. "If it's alright with you, I'd like to make a few changes to the script. It won't be anything big, and you'll still get credit for writing it, but I'd like to make sure a few concepts are included, as according to the rubric." He said. "Yeah, sure, that's fine," Marcus responded. "Caius, if you could bring any convincing props you might have, such as guns, or anything you think we might need to make costumes-" Aro tried to continue dictating but was cut off by Caius. "Wait, back up to the guns. You're saying that I can actually bring my firearm with me somewhere and not get totally busted for it?" Aro paused for a moment. "That is the general idea of the second amendment, yes." He confirmed, wondering if he was doing the right thing by permitting Caius to bring a licensed weapon to a meeting. "Yes!" Caius said, punching the air triumphantly. "In case you're wondering, giving Caius free reign to bring his gun with him was a mistake," Athenodora informed him. Aro just shook his head and continued to dole out tasks. "And Sulpicia, if you could please bring your stage make-up, if you're not averse to sharing," Sulpicia laughed. "As long as no one had an STD," She said, flipping her hair. Aro laughed too, and Caius got the feeling it was an inside joke.

The bell rang, and all the children left the classroom for a second time. Aro and Sulpicia muttered to each other, Caius and Athenodora whispered to each other, and Marcus drifted after them, a world away, in which protective older brothers did not exist.

**So! I am on SUMMER VACATION NOW, so I can have unlimited time to write! This is a win. I hope to have Chpt. 5 up soon. I am hesitant to say under a week, because that just seems like tempting fate. **


	5. Chapter 5

**At long last, chapter five is ready to be seen. It was ridiculously complicated to write in ways that it shouldn't have been, and then I got diverted into the Byzantine Empire against my will. But anyways. **

Jane lifted her head to look at the alarm clock across the room- it read 5:50. She'd have to get up in ten minutes; her parents were very. . . . particular about proper punctuality. She had awoken from a very vivid dream at 3:31 and had been awake ever since. Because she frequently suffered from insomnia, and the pins and needles that had raced up and down her narrow frame had gotten her far too keyed up to have a hope of going back to sleep, she had stayed away. But she had lain in her bed, lights shut and eyes shut, not daring to make a sound or move lest her parents heard. She instead had reflected on the dream she'd just had.

It had been a rare dream, one not full of falling and broken mirrors, crucifixes and flames leaping higher. She had been tall and grown up, twenty years old, selling her first book. She'd been at a signing in a bookstore in Boston- or maybe it had been in New York? She hadn't been sure- and the line queued up all the way out the front door. Alec, her publisher and manager was sitting on her left behind the folding table, whispering interesting facts about each person who came up to get their book signed, each one more influential and important than the last. Scattered around the store were the faces of everyone who'd called her Witchy Jane or made fun of her hair or her clothes or her incessant writing, too embarrassed of their past actions to come ask her to sign their copies.

Suddenly, standing in front of her was Aro Vocisano, grown up too, but still looking young and strikingly handsome dressed in an expensive wool suit. He smiled mischievously as he handed her the book, and she cooed coquettishly, "Whom should I make it out to?" He pursed his lips as he thought about it. "Make it out to Aro Vocisano, my biggest fan," she scribbled it in obligingly, handing it to him once she finished. He then sat down in the chair reserved for him on her right, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "Sorry I'm late, darling, things got a little crazy at work," he explained, looking at her with unconditional love and devotion shining madly out of his eyes. "You're here now, that's all that matters," she had responded, squeezing his hand and smiling conspiratorially as she had reached for the next book.

That was where the dream had ended. Jane had spent the past two hours turning the images her subconscious had dredged up over and over in her mind. She felt quietly ashamed for having dreamed about the most beautiful girl in the school's boyfriend, but she couldn't forget the butterflies that had soared when he'd picked her up off the ground in the school hallway, looking so concerned. Like he cared about her- an unknown stranger, unlovable to all but her brother. Her shame mounting another notch, she resolved to ask Didyme about her brother later that day in biology class. She could hear Alec's alarm going off, and checked her own clock- she had turned off the alarm hours previously- which read six o'clock. She rose and began to go about her daily routine.

She stripped off her nightgown and folded it neatly under her white pillow, smoothing out the wrinkles in the pastel pink sheets and the white comforter. Her whole room, from the pale white floorboards and white desk to the pale pink walls and flower-butterfly details everywhere, was done in varying shades of pinks- a princess's pastel paradise. Jane, personally, had longed for a vivid maroon, or maybe a deep navy- or tourmaline green, like somebody's eyes, her subconscious now whispered- but her mother's glare had been so ferocious when she suggested this that she had immediately retracted the statement. She inspected her armoire for an outfit. Suddenly all of her clothes looked as childish as the rest of her room. There was nothing that screamed sophistication, intelligence, independence, or even coolness. There was just pastel, priss, prep and blah, the sort of person who belonged in the background. The kind of girl who'd be one of the thousands of extras doing coordinated dance moves down the street as the leading man and his lady twirled in the spotlight, amazing and extraordinary and so, so far from average. Not the kind of girl who belonged at the leading man's side. A permanent Princess Mary Tudor, never an Anne Boleyn.

A crimson shirt from H and M was the most vibrant color Jane owned. She complemented it with a pair of jeans from Delia's and boots from 9-West that made her look taller. The boots hurt her feet and were usually way too much work to walk all around school in, but- what did her mother always say? Beauty knows no pain. She also wore a khaki corduroy blazer- the early November weather made a jacket now necessary- and sank down on the pink pouf in front of her white vanity, the makeup that her mother encouraged her to wear arranged in clear plastic cases. She didn't know how to apply much more than lip-gloss, but she tried her hand at a shimmery eye shadow and black mascara. She didn't think the effect was half bad, and tossed the three cosmetics into her bag- the same flowered Vera Bradley she'd been carrying all year, because it was the perfect size for her current composition notebook and paperback, along with several pens, pencils, and sheets of paper. The bag didn't really go with the outfit, but she needed it. She didn't know how other girls went through the day with nothing but tiny clutch purses, or if she could go a whole day without writing. Now if only she could do something with her boring, stick-straight, hair, light brown without even the excuse of auburn or gold highlights. It wasn't heavy enough to merit combs, clips or pins and she usually just parted it to one side or the other and headed out. But ever since pre-k, Jane had held the dubious title of champion braider. She deftly wove a French braid and fastened it, pulling out a few wisps to frame her face. She smiled in what she hoped was an enchanting manner. Her hair pulled away from her face and the makeup adorning her features made her sit up straighter, adding a sparkle of confidence to her eyes. For once, the girl looking back at her from the mirror was not a timid, plain little thing that looked like a seventh grader, tops.

The door creaking open made Jane jump. It was Alec, who stepped into her room without knocking or announcing himself, because that was what they had always done. "Jane, hurry up! It's almost six twenty, and you know how Mother and Father hate it when we're late for breakfast-" he broke off as Jane stood, swaying a little in her boots, unused to the added three or four inches. "Wow, Janie," he said. "What are you dressed up for?" Jane hadn't realized she looked much different than the way she usually did and hadn't thought out an excuse. "Umm . . . . I just felt like dressing up for Friday," she responded lamely. Alec eyed her critically. "When you feel like telling me the _real _reason, let me know," he said, knowing that eventually his sister and other half would confide in him, her secret keeper and best friend. "Until then, you'd better think up a better line for Mother and Father," he continued, grabbing her by the hand and towing her out the door, turning off the light as they passed.

Both walked down the stairs sedately, fingers still interlaced. Before they reached the kitchen, Alec gave Jane an extra squeeze. He knew she'd need it. They both sat down in their respective chairs at the table- Jane across from their mother and Alec from their father. "Good morning, Father," said politely. "Good morning, Mother," Alec finished. Their father lowered his newspaper fractionally to acknowledge them with a stern blink of the same hazel eyes both of his children had inherited. They both reached for their boxes of cereal, poured them into their bowls- Jane's white china with a pattern of braided pink and lavender ribbons Alec's a white and navy stripe- and began to eat. Jane felt a familiar flush of heat surging into her cheeks- her mother was scrutinizing her hair and outfit, well-practiced eye picking out all the mistakes she'd made in putting on her makeup and probably a few more that Jane herself was unaware of. "So you're finally putting effort into looking like a girl, Jane. Did you use the mascara I bought you?" her mother asked. "Yes, ma'am," Jane responded, knowing that looking someone directly in the eyes communicated that you weren't afraid of them but being unable to make it past somewhere around her mother's chin. "And what eye shadow is that? It doesn't go with your shirt at all," she continued. "Oh," Jane responded, dropping her gaze to her slowly congealing bowl of cereal. "And why didn't you put that butterfly pin I got you in your silly little braid. It would have looked good," Celine De Chantraine continued. "I'm sorry- I didn't think about that," Jane said, trying not to mumble as her head drooped lower, suddenly feeling utterly ridiculous in her boots and makeup and the outfit she had, fifteen minutes previously, found to be pretty cool.

That had obviously been the right answer, because her mother had dropped the matter and continued to cut up an orange. She placed one of the wedges on Jane's plate, saying, "Eat it. You need the vitamin C. Your skin looks absolutely dreadful," And Jane had complied, the acidic burst of flavor that usually reminded her of sunshine and happier times tasting sharp and bitter. She and Alec finished their breakfasts and collected their backpacks- white with flowers and royal blue respectively- and bade their parents good bye. Surprisingly, their mother stood and attempted to envelope Jane in a hug- her mother's well-toned and angular body and little to nonexistent ability to nurture did not lend itself well to comfort. "You're finally starting to be my daughter," She had murmured, and Jane felt her mother's fingers at the side of her braid, affixing something. "Even though you look hideous in those boots. We'll have to go shoe shopping today after school and get you a nice pair of heels," her mother continued. Jane's face burned another shade of carmine.

Both twins walked from their nice, well-built, middle class house in their nice, well-built, middle class subdivision of suburbia to the nearby bus stop. AS they stood their, side by side and as alone as they always were when waiting for the bus in the morning, Jane stated, "That awful butterfly is in my hair, isn't it," Alec nodded, looking sympathetic. Jane tried not to feel humiliated, but she couldn't help it. Her mother always ended up making her feel inferior, stupid, and plain the point of homeliness. "So why are you dressed up?" Alec asked after a tactful moment of silence. "Promise you won't freak, okay?" Jane asked, extending her index finger, which Alec wrapped his own around, and they shook- their own private and unbreakable vow. "Yesterday in the fire drill, when we were all walking in the hallway, somebody bumped into me and knocked me down," Alec looked outraged and opened his mouth to say something, but Jane held up her hand. "No, wait, I'm not finished yet. He helped me up and he seemed like he was really, really worried that he had hurt me. And that's when I found out that he was didyme's older brother, Aro!" Alec now looked astonished. "_The_ Didyme's older brother?" he asked. "Yes! And he said he'd see me around sometime!" said Jane, spirits lifting effervescently, the sting of previous hurt and humiliation at her mother's hands all but forgotten.

"Wow, Janie," her brother reiterated, running a hand through his brown hair. "But you know he's got a girlfriend, right?" he asked. Jane shot him a disparaging glance. "Alec. Of course I know he has a girlfriend. They've been dating since last December. Sulpicia Turati," Their conversation was ended as the bus screeched to a halt in front of them and they scrambled on, not wanting to provoke the ire of the notoriously short-fused bus driver, known only by the name of Paul. As they sat in their usual seat, Jane tried to quell the ebullient happiness and anticipation sparking in her chest- she might get to talk to Aro today!

{o.o}

Athenodora smirked to herself as she crept through the crowded hallway, her target within her sights. Caius was standing with his back to her at his locker, not expecting a thing. He thought she was waiting for him in literature class, little knowing that she had doubled back to follow him after he had given her the completely bogus excuse of having forgotten something in a previous class. He seemed to be very seriously looking at something in his locker, which in and of itself was a surprise because, to Athenodora's knowledge, Caius didn't use his locker as much other than a trash receptacle. Silently praising herself for having worn her broken-in black converse, she stole forward. She had planned to simply tap him on the shoulder, but a devilish thought occurred to her. She knew that Caius was very "sensitive" about his ribs- she and the rest of the civilized world called it ticklish, but Caius had gotten attitude problems about being called ticklish enough times that Athenodora had just let it go. She quickly snaked her hands under his jacket and seized his sides. He jumped about a foot and let out a short, startled cry, audible to only Athenodora in the noisy hallway.

"Athenodora!" he shouted, staggering around to face her. It did not quite escape her notice, beside herself with mirth though she was, that he very firmly planted himself between his locker and her. Caius swelled with indignation as Athenodora snickered, "That . . . . that was so completely not funny!" she sputtered. "No, you just didn't see the humor," she responded, continuing to giggle uproariously. "So what's in the locker?" she asked suddenly. She spent enough years with Caius that she knew all of his tells when he was trying to keep a secret- worrying at the hem of his shirt, compulsively shoving his hair away from his face and fleeting eye contact all of which he was currently exhibiting. "Nothing," he responded boldly. "Then let me look," She said. "NO!" Caius exploded vehemently, surprising even himself. "Uh, I mean, uh, no," he said. "If there really is nothing in your locker, prove it by letting me look," she responded, dodging from foot to foot in attempts to get a clear shot at the locker. Caius mirrored her movements, resulting in a strange and capering dance that earned them many funny looks. Caius eventually gave up and grabbed Athenodora's waist, pushing her to the side and slamming his locker door shut. She pouted, saying, "Awww, Cai, why are you so fussy?" Caius pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just let it go, Athena, it isn't important," he said, proffering his elbow to her. Because he had used his nickname for her, Athenodora took it she was forgiven for startling him. She linked her elbow in his and decided that she could pester him about his locker secret later.

As they began the slow promenade to the literature classroom, Athenodora debated about reaching down and taking his hand. But she decided not to, reminding herself as a wave of uncomfortable prickles surged up from her stomach that if Caius wanted to hold her hand, he was a big enough boy to do so. It was always Athenodora who hugged him or held his hand or in other ways instigated almost all forms of contact between them. "So this time," she thought, "I'll leave it up to him," Predictably, by the time they reached the classroom, their elbows were still the only things connected.

{o.o}

Sulpicia brushed a strand of hair away from her eyes as she surveyed her reflection critically in the mirror in her locker. The mascara she'd used that morning had been a little clumpy and she touched it up, wanting, as always, to look nice for literature class. "Sulpicia!" a voice sang out in the hallway. Sulpicia unscrewed her lip-gloss and daubed some on with the wand as she unconcernedly turned around. Didyme bounced up to her and hugged her airily. "Didyme!" Sulpicia exclaimed, returning the gesture. "I'm in a hurry to get to bio class, so can I make this really short?" she asked. "Of course," Sulpicia responded. She knew the furrows between Didymes' perfectly arched eyebrows- Aro got the same ones when he was worried about a test or an academic bowl. "I was wondering if, maybe later today, _not_ until after school, you could ask Aro if he could take me to Barnes and Nobles, really quickly on Saturday, before you guys have your group project meeting?" she asked, eyes contracting as her voice winged up hopefully. "Sure thing," Sulpicia responded. "Wait," she said. "Why can't you ask him?" she asked. "I _tried_ to," Didyme responded, rolling her eyes exaggeratedly. "But he's still mad at me for the barbecue thing on Wednesday," She adopted a look of innocence that Sulpicia had seen decorating the faces of her rivals in the ballet studio too many times to fully believe. "So I figure if you ask him, he can't really say no," She concluded. "Well, don't worry about it, I'll ask," Sulpicia responded. They embraced quickly once more and Didyme danced off, singing her thanks.

Sulpicia grabbed her books and slammed her locker, heading for literature class. If Didyme was anything like Aro, she had a hidden motive: there was some reason she wanted to get to Barnes and Nobles other than the one she had given, but it seemed a harmless enough request. She slid into her desk next to Aro in the classroom, leaning over to give him a hug. "Hello," he said, lightly stroking her hair. She smiled, pulled out her agenda and began writing down her assignments. "Sulpicia, are you busy tonight?" Aro asked. Heart racing for a few beats before she got herself back under control, she responded neutrally, "No, nothings up. Why?" Aro smiled at her, looking every bit as confident but still as sweet as the very first time he'd asked her out. "I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me tonight?" Sulpicia looked down and smiled. "Yes, I'd love to," she responded. "Great. Can I pick you up around six?" he asked. She nodded, tucking her hair behind her ear. Marcus, who had walked over around the time Sulpicia had taken out her agenda, heard what they were talking about and had tried to furtively sidle away without being noticed, took his desk, blushing bright red. Caius and Athenodora slouched in as the bell was ringing as usual. "Greetings, people of Earth," Athenodora said as they sat as well. Sulpicia pulled out her purple notebook- the notebook that she had been using since the beginning of the year to record her thoughts about both people and events and added a note to her page about Athenodora, commenting on her strange greetings.

"Well, as you all know, yesterday, I was, 'freaking out'," Aro started. You could plainly hear the quotation marks around his words. "But when I got home, after I read Marcus's script, and made a few of my own little edits, I came to the conclusion that we have nothing to worry about," he continued, pulling out unbent packets of white papers, perfectly stapled, and distributed one to each group member. "That's the script, complete with blocking and everything else. So as long as we all stick directly to the script, and everyone brings their items, we'll be doing really well," Everyone flipped through the script as Aro rummaged around in his backpack, extracting three pieces of paper with his address neatly printed on it. He handed those to Marcus, Caius and Athenodora. "Your house, twelve noon, Saturday?" Marcus confirmed. Aro nodded. Marcus opened his mouth to say more, but shut it again, looking somewhat reproachfully at something behind Aro. Aro turned to see what it was, and found Stefan, Vladimir and Amun approaching them.

"Hey, Aro," said Stefan with an air of exceptionally fake enthusiasm. Sulpicia rolled her eyes, feeling irritated on Aro's behalf. Was it really too much to ask for once class period of peace from those three? "So, how's' the newest history club coming along?" Stefan asked brightly. "Everything's coming along _perfectly_," Aro assured him smoothly. "When's your first meeting? I might want to sit in, make sure everything goes all right for you," Stefan said, a vaguely ominous threat evident in his tone. "Oh, no, I wouldn't want you to go to any extra trouble. I'm sure I'll be able to handle everything," Aro responded. "Oh, it'd be no trouble at all. I'd like to do_ everything_ I can to_ help a friend out_," Stefan replied forcefully. "No, I really think it will be fine- you wouldn't want to waste your Saturday shmucking around with us," Aro responded, equally forcefully, still with a manic grin on his face. "Naw, it's cool, man. W don't have any plans anyway," Amun interjected. "Wow. I mean, I knew you guys were pathetic, but I didn't know to what extent," Caius said loudly. Aro turned slowly around in his chair to stare at Caius like he'd lost his mind. "We haven't decided where we'll be having it, but when we do, you'll be the first people we let know," Sulpicia said evenly, bestowing her most blinding smile on the trio, who then traipsed back to their desks, looking mollified and a bit dazzled.

"You just _lied_," said Marcus, eyes wide and tone reproving as he looked at Sulpicia. Sulpicia tried not to let him affect her and coolly replied, "well, it obviously would have been ideal if we could have gotten rid of them without having to prevaricate, but that wasn't in the cards," Caius nodded approvingly. "Didn't know you had it in you, princess," he said. Sulpicia snorted. "Oh, please. How do you think I wasn't blamed for Marcella's point shoes disappearing?" Aro chuckled appreciatively, probably remembering the time last year he had encouraged her to make her arch-nemesis Marcella believe her point shoes were some kind of good luck charm and then have them disappear. Sulpicia was disappointed in herself, but had been unable to steal them at the last moment. They had disappeared anyway (and she could tell from the smug look on his face that Aro had known how when he asked her about it) and they had questioned her, but she put on the usual sugar-sweet smile and was off the hook.

Now it occurred to Sulpicia that she might have said something different- the look on Marcus' face was clearly disapproving and she remembered Aro's words when they had discussed their other group members on the phone a few nights previously- "He's polite, very popular, but he seems a bit . . . . naïve," Surprisingly, his face morphed into a smile. "I feel really hard core now," he responded gleefully. Caius put his head down on the desk.

{o.o}

Didyme was having a marvelous time in biology class. Today was a dissection lab and Mr. Newton had to sit down from the faintness from all the fumes in the room. She had managed to persuade Alec to do all of the cutting and slicing, and Renata was actually talking with him about it, and Jane was on edge about something. She was constantly fidgeting and drawing deep breaths, and sometimes would catch didyme's gaze, something akin to resolve glinting in her eyes, but each time she would blush and look away. She was also dressed in a great departure from the norm, in boots and a bright crimson shirt, her hair pulled back and face- slightly clumsily- made up. Didyme wasn't probing her about it because she knew Jane would eventually say whatever it was she wanted to say.

The class period came and went, and still Jane had not spoken up. Didyme was just picking up her bag when Jane sidled over to her, looking strangely guilty. "Hey, ummm, Didyme. During our biology thing on Saturday . . . . . . Your brother won't be there, will he?" Jane was unable to keep a soft edge of hope from entering her voice. Masquerading a very strong feeling of confusion, Didyme responded fluidly, "He will, but he'll be busy with his own stuff and will leave us alone," Jane crossed her skinny arms over her narrow chest but not in a confrontational- in a manner that made Didyme think she was hugging herself for warmth. "Oh, okay, great," she responded, the smallest smile unfurling over her face.

{o.o}

Caius swallowed nervously. He resisted the urge to look out the window or at the clock for what had to have been the fifteenth time in a five-minute period. Athenodora would arrive when she arrived. Friday night movies had been a them thing since they were in elementary school. Caius always hosted because his mother was never home, and therefore they could watch whatever they wanted without awkward parental questions, and Athenodora always brought food, usually something salty for him and something sweet for herself. Caius smiled as he remembered the time when they had been in fifth grade and had freaked themselves out so badly by watching Stephen Kings' "It" that they had been too afraid to budge off the couch and go to Caius's room. Eventually, at three AM, Caius (having downed three bottles of Mountain Dew) made a mad dash for the bathroom, but neglected to turn on any lights, got his foot tangled in the shower curtain, and tripped into the tub. Both he and Athenodora had been too terrified to move until the sun rose later that morning, when Caius crawled out of the bathroom. They had met each other's eyes and laughed hysterically for five minutes, then swore off Stephen King for the next five years.

That had been an easier time, when Caius wasn't always finding himself thinking about what kissing Athenodora might be like, or what the strands of her hair between his fingers might feel like. Or whether their Movie Night Fridays (as Caius had so whimsically dubbed it- Athenodora had insisted that it needed a name, and had been all for the Excellent Cinematographic Adventure Night of the Dynamic Duo Athenodora and Her Trusty Sidekick Caius, which had, needless to say, been shot down with all haste) counted as dates. And wondering when this strange new tolerance of nerds (ruthless, ambition-driven nerds) and their girlfriends (prissy, liar girlfriend) had arisen. Before he wondered if what he was about to do was a good idea.

He heard the door bang open and Athenodora announced, "I'm home!" hitching on his usual smirk, Caius loped into the kitchen where Athenodora stood, tossing a bag of Spicy-Sweet Doritos, two king-sized Kitkat bars, and a Caramello on the counter, where two giant-sized bottles of Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew respectively waited. "Hello, Zuko here." Caius responded. "I'm not sure you even fully realize how fitting and appropriate that reference is for you," she quipped "Grab the loot," she instructed, waving dismissively at the junk food as she walked past him into the living room. "You know, it never fails to amaze me, how much effort you put into making this place look nice for me," she said, hands on hips as she smiled about the room. Caius paused in the doorway as it occurred to him that the living room truly was filthy- pillows strewn all over the place, the remote sticking out from between the two couch cushions like a watch tower, a fair coating of dust layering the gouged and battered coffee table, and food wrappers along with a few stains of questionable origins littering the floor. "Hey, the cockroach corpses in the corner add to the ambiance," he said defensively. "Oh, I know, I do the same thing in my room at home. But I just can't achieve that authentic, 'a grubby, slovenly man lives here' feel to it, you know?" She asked. "It's taken me seventeen years to achieve this hardcore level of slovenliness. Don't think you can just jump in now," Caius chastened, flinging himself down on the couch as Athenodora slid in whatever DVD she'd brought.

It was her week to pick and, as ever, Caius went into this with equal parts anticipation and trepidation. Athenodora's picks in the past had ranged from Van Helsing to Gladiator to Pride and Prejudice. There was no telling what it might be this time. Athenodora settled onto the couch with a kitkat in hand, leaning against Caius, so close he could smell her perfume. "I love this movie," she breathed, eyes fixed on the screen. Piano music started during the opening credits. The movie was called Howls Moving Castle, an animated and bizarre talk about a young girl aged into an old woman, a fat-necked and evil witch, a wizard who could turn into a bird and destroy airships, a dog that could fly, and a war. Caius was very confused by it all, but Athenodora was still sitting so close to him that it could be argued that she was sitting in his lap, and mouthing along to all the lines, so he wasn't really bothered. When that finished, they were about to put in their old stand by of Sweeney Todd, but as the opening credits began rolling, Caius, heart in his throat for no logical reason, Caius his the pause button.

"Ummmmmmm, Athena?" He said, turning to face her. She did the same, looking back at him attentively. "Yes?" she asked. Suddenly, looking into her eyes- which he really had never noticed, were the most astonishing shade of pale gray- he lost his bravery. "Uh, nothing. We'll talk about it after the movie," Caius postponed. Athenodora pressed play and leaned back, though Caius was pleased to note it was more against him than the couch. Throughout the entire movie, as Athenodora sang her way through her favorite bits, Caius was mustering up his nerve and scolding himself in equal measure. Why shouldn't he do as he planned? It wasn't like it was a big deal, or like it meant anything special or extravagant. The movie ended and Athenodora put it lovingly back in its box, and then sat back down, looking at Caius once more.

"Well, I, um . . . . . . so, we've been . . . . pretty much. . . . inseparable since . . . forever," Caius began, mentally cursing his scumbag brain for choosing this precise moment to give him a stutter. "And I just wanted you to know that, given the company we are currently being forced to keep in lit class, I find that I appreciate you more and more," As he had been speaking, trying to sound mature and sincere and not like some cheesy Hallmark card, which he strongly suspected he did, he had been digging around in the couch cushion behind him where he had stashed the little box. "So I, ummmmm . . . . I got you this," he said, thrusting it at her, trying not to feel like a kindergartener presenting his first crush with a wilted dandelion. While eyeing him quizzically, she opened the box. Inside was a bracelet, made with interlocking loops of something silvery and polished. A stone that Caius was well aware was dyed purple glass was fastened in place in the middle of the whole affair.

"Cai . . . . . . " Athenodora breathed, picking the trinket out of the box and holding it up to admire it. "Is this what you were trying to hide from me in your locker today?" she guessed shrewdly. Caius nodded. "You shouldn't have gone to all this trouble," she said, still looking at it like it was the most beautiful, expensive piece of jewelry that she'd ever seen. "Well, it cost me five bucks at the Family Dollar, so it didn't set me back too much," he responded gruffly. Athenodora smacked him on the shoulder, then held out her wrist. "Put it on!" she trilled, smiling. "If I'd known you were going to freak out this much over it, I might have broken the bank and gone for the seven dollar one," Caius remarked, fastening it around her wrist, which distracted him for the strangest reason,like Athenodora always managed to do. Her wrist was just so tiny- it looked so fragile and bony. "Shut up, I'm part magpie, we like shiny things," She responded, stroking it with her other hand. "I mean . . . . You're my best friend," he said, shrugging, hoping he didn't sound pathetic. "You stole that from Queen," she replied, attempting a scornful look and not quite being able to manage it. "So? It fit the moment," he said, smacking her lightly in return.

With no warning, Athenodora drew him into a tight, rib-cracking hug, the kind Caius could only remember receiving from her when she was either distraught of overjoyed about something. "Thanks, Caius," she whispered in his ear. Gentleman that he sometimes pretended to be, when they broke apart, Caius retreated to the floor so that she could have the couch. Her hand dangled over the side and Caius steeled himself, then reached out and caught it in his. They both feel asleep smiling.

**D'Awwww, Caius and Athenodora! I love them. I'm sorry about the brevity of this chapter- I wanted to have a section about Aro and Sulpicia's date, but it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to and I had to get rid of it. Also, a note about names that I forgot to include in the last chapter. I tried to give everybody last names that sounded indicative of the cultures Mrs. Meyer says they came from in the Guide- for example, all the Ancients have Italian-sounding last names because they were from Greece/Rome. Jane and Alec's surname of De Chantraine is not Greek (which Mrs. Meyer says they are in the Guide and I don't agree with) and is a sneaky little historical reference- Anne De Chantraine was one of the first people to be recorded of being convicted of witchcraft and burned because of it. The other members of the guard should be coming into things in the next chapter or two, so stay posted for **_**that**_** mess. Hope everyone enjoyed! **


End file.
